What Happens At Weddings
by sksai
Summary: just a short(not really) fluffy (kind of) little story to help tide us all over until TIS comes out! Not sure how much I'll be expanding on this, maybe two or three more chapters...we'll see! I don't know what's going on with this story anymore it just keeps happening...
1. Chapter 1

a/n: I originally was going to post this in my Sydrian RoundUp one shots, but I figured it would make more sense to keep all the lemons in one place, because that way if that's all some people are interested in, they can just go there for lemon-guaranteed reading. I'd feel bad for anyone following that story specifically for lemons getting excited and then being let down with unwanted fluff. so, for all you fluff lovers out there...

a little post-chapter-2-of-the-indigo-spell fluff for y'all

Lissa Dragomir didn't know what to expect as she entered the ladies room of the hotel most of the guests attending Sonya and Mikhail's wedding were staying. She'd been getting ready to leave for the wedding herself, which was in 2 hours, when she'd received a phone call from Rose urging her to report to the ladies room as soon as possible.

Upon arrival, she took in the scene of Sydney, the alchemist, holding her arm out to Rose, who was desperately applying coats of hotel bathroom paper towels to it. Every time she added another layer, it immediately seeped through with red liquid. Lissa realized with a jolt that Sydney was injured. And bleeding profusely.

"Took you long enough!" Rose exclaimed when she saw Lissa. "We've got a crisis."

"What...what happened?" Lissa asked, her voice full of confusion and concern.

"It's these stupid heels!" Sydney piped up, swinging her injured arm up in dismay.

"Hey, whoa! No, no, watch the dress!" Rose interjected frantically, guiding Sydney's injured arm away from the black clingy number she was wearing. As Lissa took in the sight of her she realized she looked quite different from what she remembered. Certainly prettier, but maybe that was just because she'd never seen her done up like this before. She smiled, in spite of the bloody scene. "You look really nice, Sydney."

Sydney and Rose both snapped their heads up toward her. "Um, thanks.." Sydney coughed awkwardly. "So do you, Queen Vasilisa."

Lissa scoffed loudly at the formality in the girl's voice. "Oh, you can call me Lissa."

Rose looked between them incredulously. "Okay awesome, now that we're all best friends can we please take care of Barbie Bleeds A Lot over here? This wound's pretty deep."

Lissa shook her head, feeling stupid. "Oh, yes. Of course!" She hurried over to Sydney, gently taking hold of her arm. "What happened again?"

Sydney blanched. "I, um...well...I tripped...down an entire flight of stairs."

Rose shook her head. "You're damn lucky I was close by, you little klutz."

"I'm just not used to these kinds of shoes!" Sydney countered, her voice defensive. "Heels this narrow should be illegal."

Lissa winced as she unwrapped an edge of the paper towels covering the gash. "Ouch. But don't worry, I'll have you good as new in no time." she smiled brightly at Sydney as she began to heal the cut.

"Wha-what are you doing?!" Sydney's voice was hysterical as she ripped her arm away from Lissa's grasp after just a few seconds. Lissa frowned, confused.

"Watch. The. Dress!" Rose screeched, grabbing for Sydney's arm again.

"I'm sorry," Lissa said quickly. "I just thought...well why else would you call me down here?" Lissa looked to Rose uncertainly.

"Oh, shit." Rose sighed in annoyance, glancing at Sydney, who now looked horrified. "I forgot."

"No magic, please." Sydney begged. "There has to be another way just please, please, no vampire magic."

Rose shook her head. "Sydney, I'm sorry, but there's no other option. Not unless you want to miss the wedding." Sydney's horrified expression deepened.

"Lissa is my best friend." Rose continued. "I know you're freaked out by all this but I promise, she won't do anything to hurt you. Just let her heal the cut, okay?"

Lissa nodded, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible to this terrified girl. "Trust me, I'm a total wimp, you could probably even beat me up." she joked.

Sydney bit her lip and looked back and forth between Lissa and Rose. "There's really nothing else we can do?" Rose shook her head again. "And we're running out of time, Sydney. Just let Lissa help you, okay?"

Sydney cleared her throat, and the next words that came out of her mouth were not at all was Lissa was expecting. "Can you go get Adrian?"

"Huh?" Lissa and Rose both answered in unison.

"If he's still here, can of you go get him?" Sydney asked. "If someone has to heal me, I'd just rather...I mean...I'm sorry it's nothing personal, Lissa, I just don't really know you and-"

"Ivashkov?" Lissa asked, blinking, just to make sure she'd heard her right.

"Any other spirit users named Adrian we know?" Rose asked dryly.

"I'll go find him." Lissa said, heading out of the bathroom even more confused than when she'd entered it.

Luckily she managed to catch Adrian just as he was walking into the lobby of the hotel. She sighed in relief. She rushed over to him and grabbed ahold of his wrist.

"Whoa, long time no see, cousin." Adrian smiled easily at her. "You look lovely. But where, may I ask, is the fire?"

"No fire," Lissa smiled briefly at him. "But you need to come with me quickly. It's Sydney. She's hurt."

All the playfulness in his demeanor drained in one second. "Where is she?" His voice was deadly serious. "What happened?"

Lissa turned and began pulling him toward the bathroom. "She's hurt her arm pretty badly, from what I've gathered.. She's bleeding all over the ladies room. She needs to be healed like, right now."

"Why the hell didn't you heal her, then?" Adrian asked, a surprising amount of anger in his voice.

"She wouldn't let me!" Lissa fired back, turning back to look at him ad she tugged him along. "She wants you." At those words, Adrian's expression flickered from concern and anger to something else, just for a moment, then his face was oddly expressionless, as if he were forcing it to appear as such.

* * *

After what felt like an eternity, Lissa and Adrian finally burst through the door.

"Did you stop to order a pizza?" Rose grumbled, still uselessly applying pressure to the soppy paper towel bandage on Sydney's arm.

Rose expected a fiery comeback of some sort from Adrian, but instead his attention went directly to Sydney. His eyes widened at the sight of her. "Jesus, Sage. What have you done?"

Sydney blushed. "It's a long story."

"Not important." Rose quipped, extending Sydney's injured arm toward him. "Get to work."

Adrian gingerly took Sydney's arm from her grasp, peeling back the paper towels with care. He looked up at Sydney and smirked. "Well, this brings back some memories, doesn't it?"

He threw a glance back to Rose and Lissa and shrugged nonchalantly. "Strigoi attack. You had to be there."

To Rose's surprise, Sydney's mouth actually quirked upward at that.

"Lissa, could you bring me some wet paper towels?" Adrian asked, as he began healing the wound.

Lissa nodded and grabbed a few clean ones from the dispenser, which was all but used up by now, ran them under the faucet and handed them to Adrian.

"What for?" Rose asked curiously. This entire situation was growing weirder by the minute.

She received her answer a few moments later, as Adrian began wiping away the dried blood on Sydney's freshly healed arm.

Sydney blushed again, attempting to pull it away from him. "Oh, you don't have to do that, Adrian, really it's-"

"All done." Adrian said, tossing the paper towels in the trash. He looked up at Sydney and smiled softly. "You okay?"

Sydney nodded. "I am now." she looked at him meaningfully. "Thank you."

"I'm guessing this had something to do with those," Adrian smirked, gesturing toward Sydney's strappy stiletto shoes. "I've gotta say, as much as I'm loving the effect they give, maybe you should go with another pair."

"I haven't got anything else." Sydney frowned.

"Then be careful, Sage." Adrian wagged his finger at her. "Or else I'm going to have to carry you around all night."

Sydney's blushed deepened. "That won't be neccessary," she said, giving him a pointed look.

Rose was taken aback by how...friendly they seemed with each other. She knew they'd spent a decent amount of time together in Palm Springs, but she'd hardly expected them to be so..._chummy_. It was good, though, God knew Adrian needed an influence like Sydney in his life. The way they regarded each other reminded her of the brotherly affection Adrian often displayed toward Jill. She shook her head, finding it endearing. Of all people for Sydney to befriend...

"Um, Rose?" Lissa's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Can I talk to you outside for a second?"

"Hmm?" Rose turned around to face her. "Why? What's up?"

Lissa's face was troubled and for the millionth time Rose yearned for the bond they'd once shared. "Just come outside with me for a sec." she jerked her head toward the door.

* * *

Once Lissa and Rose were outside, Adrian leaned in close to Sydney, taking her face in his hands. "Are you really okay?" he asked, his emerald eyes boring into hers.

Sydney flustered at the sudden proximity. "I'm fine, Adrian. Please." she reached up to grab his wrists in attempt to push his hands away but instead just lingered there, holding them in place. "Thank you." she said again. "Really, I mean it."

"Anytime, Sage." he smiled at her. "You know I can't resist playing the hero."

Sydney shook her head, sighing dramatically, "Of course, how will I ever repay you?"

Adrian's eyes glinted mischeviously. "I was thinking a kiss."

Sydney immediately drew back from him, uncomfortable. "Adrian." her voice was hard.

"Hey!" he replied, "I saved your life. You don't think that earns me one little peck? Doesn't even have to be on the mouth."

Sydney rolled her eyes. "That was hardly saving my life. If we go by that logic then you, sir, owe me several kisses."

Adrian's eyebrows shot up and Sydney sputtered as she realized what she'd said. "Not that I want them!" she exclaimed quickly. "I was just saying-"

"You just name the time and place, Sage, and I will happily pay up." Adrian cut her off, smiling devilishly. "But I would like to know just how far in debt am I? I only recall one distinct life-saving."

* * *

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, once she and Lissa were outside the bathroom.

Lissa eyed her dubiously. "Um, what was up with _that_?"

Rose furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

Lissa gestured toward the bathroom. "Those two."

"Oh, yeah," Rose nodded. "I had no idea they were friends. It's weird, right? But kind of cute." she shrugged. "Adrian's always on his best behavior when he's got somebody to play big brother to."

Lissa looked at her. "Rose, I don't think that's what he's doing."

Rose was confused for the second time. "Huh?"

Lissa dropped her voice to a whisper. "You should have seen the look on his face when I told him Sydney was hurt. It was like he was ready to murder whoever was at fault. And then when I told him that she wanted him to be the one to heal her, it was like, I don't know Rose...I think..."

Rose almost choked. "Liss, you're not serious..."

Lissa just shrugged. "You think it's impossible?"

"Very impossible!" Rose was laughing now. "Oh my God, Lissa. You don't know Sydney like I do. She can barely stand to be in the same room as Moroi. Hell, when we first met she was afraid to _go to sleep_ around _me_."

"She seems so different now, though." Lissa mused, "Way more comfortable around us, for sure. And there's something else, too. Something I can't put my finger on."

"Will you chill out, Sherlock Holmes?" Rose scoffed. "Like I said, I know her. And you couldn't be more wrong."

Lissa nodded slowly. "Maybe you're right about Sydney. But I'm not so sure about Adrian..."

"Come on, even he isn't that stupid. He wouldn't go that far just to be rebellious."

"Maybe he's not trying to be rebellious." Lissa replied. "Maybe he really likes her."

Rose just shook her head. "Trust me, Liss. You're barking up the wrong tree. There is literally nothing in the world so impossible as Sydney and Adrian having some secret love affair." she laughed again. "Nothing."

* * *

"There was the night at the apartment, yes." Sydney said , reminding Adrian of the times she'd "saved his life". And much to her shock and dismay, Adrian leaned down and kissed her softly on the forehead.

"One down," he smiled. "And?"

Sydney just gaped at him. The closeness between them was making her dizzy. She felt her skin heat up and her brain start to go foggy.

"And?" he prompted. "Come on, Sage. The clock is ticking and I refuse to leave my debts unpaid."

"And..." she whispered, in a daze, her eyelids fluttering half-closed, "There was that time I came and got you in LA...when you were hungover..."

"Ah," Adrian chuckled. "That's very true." he hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her head up, gently pressing his lips to the skin of her left eyelid. "And?"

Sydney's breath caught in her throat. She felt like she was falling under some sort of spell. She swallowed hard, "I got you into college."

Adrian smiled wryly. "Another true statement." He titled his head to kiss her other eyelid. "And?" he whispered.

Sydney exhaled shakily, feeling like the whole world was dissolving around her. "Um...the night of the dance..." she trailed off, unable to finish the thought and deeply regretting bringing that night up. The night Adrian had drunkenly laid his soul bare to her, not to mention declaring her the most beautiful creature that had ever walked the earth. Secretly, she replayed that night over and over in her mind all the time, unable to forget the way he'd looked at her. No one had ever looked at her like that before. She blinked a few times, willing the memory to fade away, "I gave you a ride home...made sure you didn't get sick..." she finished, lamely.

Adrian narrowed his eyes as if deep in thought, then nodded slowly. "I'll take it." he kissed the bridge of her nose. "And?"

Sydney shook her head slightly. "That's it."

Adrian's mouth twitched upward. "You sure about that?"

"That's all I can remember."

Adrian frowned. "You forgot one. The most important one."

Sydney eyed him curiously. "I did? What was it?"

He shook his head. "Can't believe you don't remember..."

Now Sydney was growing agitated. She was almost positive Adrian was just baiting her into something, but the thought of her memory being faulty was too important to ignore. "Tell me."

He leaned in, bringing his mouth very close to hers. "When you bought me the cherry slush, after the disaster of a father/son reunion we both unforturnately endured."

"Oh." Sydney breathed, smiling softly at the memory. "I didn't forget that. I just didn't think it really counted for much."

"It did to me," he whispered, his mouth brushing faintly against hers. Her head rushed. Her body tingled. For one split second in time she considered letting their lips press together all the way, but turned her head away just as quickly, breathing unevenly. He let his lips press up against her ear, instead. "You look so beautiful." he murmured. "Too beautiful for words."

"Don't." she breathed, "Please." her hands were shaking.

Adrian stepped back, and when they were no longer touching it was like all the heat rushed out of her body. She was suddenly too cold. She ached for him to be close again. No, no, she didn't. She couldn't. She couldn't be feeling this way about him. She shook her head, trying to steady herself.

"Sydney, listen-" Adrian started to say, just as the door opened and Lissa popped in.

"Guys? We really need to get going soon."

Adrian nodded, looking back to Sydney for a long moment. "You okay, Sage?"

Sydney nodded weakly, brushing down at the material on her dress. "I'm fine. Thank you, again."

"Like I said, anytime." he winked at her before moving past Lissa and out the door. "I'll see you lovely ladies at the wedding."

Lissa smiled softly at Sydney. "Are you sure you're okay? You look a little...off."

Sydney nodded again, "I'm fine. It's probably just the blood loss and...everything."

Lissa nodded back. "Yeah, Rose told me you don't really like...well..being around us."

"Oh, no." Sydney said quickly. "It's not that. I mean, it is a little bit. But it's not..."she sighed. "I'm not like how I used to be." Sydney furrowed her brow, suddenly realizing how true those words really were.

Lissa was eyeing her strangely, like she was trying to figure something out. "So, just wondering, why does he call you Sage?"

Sydney's head snapped up. "Huh?"

"Adrian, I mean."

"Oh," Sydney tried to sound casual, "That's my last name."

"Ahh," Lissa nodded. "I see. Is that what most people call you, then?"

Sydney shook her head slowly. "Uh, no." she gave a soft laugh. "No one really calls me that. I mean, well, besides Adrian."

Lissa smiled widely, now looking like she'd just found the missing piece of a puzzle. "I kind of figured as much."


	2. Ch 2-How To Lose A Friend in 10 Minutes

Sydney still felt woozy as she and the others sat down. She wasn't sure if it was due to the amount of blood she lost or the fact that she was sandwiched in between Adrian and a Moroi she only knew of from what the alchemists had record of, Christian Ozera, who happened to be Lissa's boyfriend. Lissa and Rose had to hurry off as soon as they'd said their hellos, as they were both in the wedding, leaving Sydney alone with the two people she'd least like to be with. She felt awful for it, but she was slightly terrified of Christian. She knew all about his family, and the alchemists didn't hesitate to slander Christian's name as well, as if he was just as foul as the rest of them. Sydney suspected that most Moroi didn't even think much of him, either. When they arrived he'd been standing alone, fidgeting his hands awkwardly, his face the picture of malcontent. It had considerably brightened when he saw Lissa approaching, and the scathing looks some of the guests shot the couple as Lissa showered him with affectionate kisses solidified Sydney's theory. She felt her cheeks grow hot now, guilty and embarrassed to be feeling the way she did. _You're not afraid of Dimitri, are you?_ she reminded herself, _and he used to be the worst kind of monster on Earth._ _So did Sonya, and you're at her wedding for God's sake. _

She suddenly felt ridiculous for feeling weird around Christian. She was glad no one could read her mind, or at least, she didn't think they could. She was being paranoid now. She took a deep, shaky breath, wishing the ceremony would start already so she could focus her mind on anything than the fact that she was surrounded by vampires. There were other alchemists present, but they arrived so late she didn't have time to find them and sit where ever they were. _Oh God_, she realized, panic taking hold of her, _what are they going to think? Me arriving so late with a slew of evil creatures in my entourage. _She'd have some explaining to do later. She'd have to lie. She couldn't tell them she'd let a vampire heal her with magic. She took another ragged breath, mentally kicking herself for getting into this situation.

As Sydney spiraled further into her anxiety, a looming shadow passed over her. She looked up to see Dimitri Belikov standing over her.

"We've got a problem," he said, looking troubled.

"What is it?" Sydney asked, her eyes wide with fear.

He sighed deeply. "One of Mikhail's friends who doesn't seem to comprehend responsibility called to inform that he is too hungover to participate in the ceremony, leaving us short a groomsman." He looked toward Adrian.

Adrian's eyebrows raised. "What? You want me to replace him? I don't even know what to do. I wasn't at any of the rehearsals or anything."

"Keep your voice down," Dimitri commanded as some of the guests started to look at us questioningly, whispering to themselves. "Sonya doesn't know and Mikhail doesn't want her to find out. He wants everything to be perfect for her, you know." he attempted a smile. "She likes you well enough, you're the best choice for a substitute."

Adrian frowned. "Can't the ceremony go on without him? Will she really notice one less groomsman?"

Dimitri shook his head. "Then one of the bridesmaids wouldn't have a partner to walk down the aisle with."

Adrian scoffed. "Well then pick the least attractive one and tell her she's out."

"That's hardly an appropriate option," Dimitri said, all business. "I'm asking you to do this for Sonya. Please?"

Sydney didn't think she'd ever heard Dimitri say that word, and perhaps that's what got Adrian to finally nod his head, and reluctantly stand up. "Fine. But you're buying me drinks all night for this."

The reality of what was happening hit Sydney, then. She was going to be alone with Christian, who was virtually a stranger and a vampire she half felt sorry for, half wanted to stay far away from. She couldn't help herself from grabbing Adrian's wrist in panic, "You're leaving?"

He looked startled when looked down at her, and Sydney wondered if her fear was coming through in her aura. "Oh, right." he turned toward Dimitri. "I can't leave Sydney by herself."

Dimitri looked down at her. "She's not by herself." he shot Christian a serious glance. "You'll keep an eye on her." It wasn't a request.

"Will do," Christian nodded, smiling easily at Dimitri and Adrian. "I'll guard her with my life."

She knew he was trying to joke, but the comment made her realize what a baby she was being. She was supposed to be an adult, she was supposed to be professional. She dropped her hand and put on her best fake smile. "I'm fine. Go on, you guys."

Dimitri nodded once and walked away. Adrian hesitated for a moment, then leaned over and whispered something in Christian's ear. Something Christian seemed to find devastatingly amusing. He smirked at Adrian. "Got it."

"I'm serious," Adrian said, narrowing his eyes. He then averted his gaze to Sydney, his expression softening. "You sure you're okay with this?"

Embarrassment flooded her. "Adrian, it's fine. Please, go. People are starting to stare."

He reached out momentarily as if to grab her hand, then pulled back suddenly, standing up straight. He cleared his throat. "Alright, can't keep that poor unattractive bridesmaid waiting." he rolled his eyes and left.

Sydney tried to remain calm. She didn't realize until now how much Adrian's presence made a difference in how she felt. He made her feel, well, safe. That was ridiculous, as far as vampires went he was technically just as dangerous as everyone else here but she knew him. He wasn't dangerous at all. He was familiar and he was...Adrian. She frowned as she grappled with how much the loss of his nearness affected her.

A whispered voice at her ear dragged her out of her anxiety ridden thoughts. "You look as miserable as I feel."

She looked quickly to her left, to see Christian giving her a rueful smile. She swallowed. "What do you mean?" she whispered back.

"I feel as out of place as you do, if not more so." he dropped his voice even lower, to an overdramatic whisper. "Everyone here hates me."

Sydney attempted a soft laugh which came out more like a strangled cat noise. "I'm sure that's not true." she said awkwardly, even though she wasn't sure of that at all.

"It's whatever," he shrugged. "Most of these people suck anyway. Sorry, no offense to your alchemists. I saw a few of them arrive earlier, I think. I could tell because the looks they gave me were especially disgusted."

Sydney blushed, caring less about the fact that those very alchemists could see her sitting with Christian now and caring more about the fact that everyone was so rude to him.

"I wouldn't take it so personally," she said, trying to smile, "That's how they look at everyone."

He laughed then, causing a few people in front of them to turn around and glare.

Sydney and Christian exchanged a glance and she had to keep herself from smiling. He was being so nice to her when he had no reason to be. She felt, for lack of a better term, like a complete bitch for thinking badly of him.

"I know what it feels like to have your own people treat you differently," she said, surprising herself with her words. "Ever since I helped Rose, a lot of the alchemists don't trust me anymore. I think my work in Palm Springs has helped but I'm still doomed to be the black sheep until someone else screws up more than I did."

He nodded slowly, then smiled. "Well, we can be black sheep buddies."

She smiled back, now unsure of what to say. Thankfully music began to fill the room as the ceremony started. She looked to the back as the family members of the bride and groom appeared, walking down the aisle with big smiles. She was taken aback at how similar this was to a human wedding. She didn't know what else she expected it to be like, and was once again embarrassed at being nervous for no reason. The first paired bridesmaid and groomsmen appeared, it was Rose and Dimitri. She smiled broadly as they walked, looking like the picture perfect couple. She was glad they were together and happy after all they'd been through. Next was Lissa and a really old guy. She nudged Christian. "Try not to get too jealous."

Christian had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing. Her own laugh died in her throat as she caught sight of a fellow alchemist, Ian, sitting next to a few of their superiors. He was staring directly at her, eyeing her with disdain. She gave him a weak smile and half wave. He just continued to stare for a moment before looking away. _Damn_, she thought._ How long had he been looking at her?_ Enough to see her being friendly with Christian. It was a harmless conversation, but the alchemists certainly wouldn't see it that way. She gulped, trying not to panic again. She could deal with Ian later. He was her friend, or he had been, maybe he wouldn't say anything to the other alchemists. She could only hope. All her thoughts of Ian and the alchemists were cut violently short when she saw Adrian and his partner enter the room. She was a young Moroi Sydney didn't recognize, maybe in her mid twenties, and very far from unattractive. She had her arm hooked tightly in Adrian's as they walked, looking at him like she'd won the lottery. He smiled back at her. Anger and hurt flared up in Sydney unexpectedly.

_This is a good thing_, she forced herself to think. _This is what he needs, to move on from his impossible feelings for me, and this girl is clearly interested in helping him_.

This time Christian nudged her. "Try not to get too jealous." What did _that_ mean? She remembered that Adrian had whispered something to Christian before he left. Oh, God. What had he said? She hissed her question in his general direction, trying not to look at him in case any alchemists were looking at her.

"Nothing," he whispered back, amusement clear in his voice.

This was all too much. She felt like she was about to pass out. The vampires, Christian, Ian giving her that strange look, and now Adrian arm in arm with some beautiful girl that was leagues above her. She shook her head, trying to clear it. This day wasn't about her, and she needed to be respectful to Sonya and Mikhail and stop worrying about herself.

The rest of the wedding passed in a blur. Sonya was a vision in her dress. Her hair was piled loosely on top of her head, a few curled strands spilling out to frame her face perfectly. Sydney was once again surprised at how normal everything was. The vows, the ring exchange, the chaste yet loving kiss they shared. She wondered how Ian and the other alchemists were reacting to this. A tiny part of her hoped that maybe somehow, someway it was showing them that maybe vampires weren't so outrageously different from them, after all. She doubted it. People see what they want to see. They were probably picking out every minute detail about everything and everyone here that was different and using it to fuel their mindless hate. As people started to file out, she strained her neck to see if she could spot Ian, wanting desperately to speak with him before he had a chance to draw any incriminating conclusions.

She felt a hand on her arm and spun around, it was Christian, of course, smiling widely. "Do you want me to take you to the reception? I figure Adrian and Lissa and everybody will have to hang back and take photos for awhile."

She shook her head, moving away from him. "Sorry. I have to go talk to my friend, Ian. He's an alchemist. I need to check in with them, anyway. The alchemists." she was babbling now.

He nodded. "I get it. Duty calls. I did promise to keep an eye on you, though. But I guess you'll be safe with your friend, right?"

"Well, of course." Sydney didn't mean for her words to come out so incredulously. She blushed. "It was uh, nice meeting you, Christian."

"Same to you," he grinned. "I guess I'll see you there?"

"The reception?" he added as she stared at him blankly.

"Oh," she said. "Sure, yeah. See you there." and she hurried away before he could say anything more.

She looked around frantically, pushing her way through the lingering crowd, trying to find Ian to no avail. After a few minutes of fruitless searching she was about to give up when she felt a hand on her back. She jumped and whipped around, staring directly into the eyes of the boy she'd been searching for.

"Ian!" she yelled, clutching her heart. "You scared me."

"I'm sorry," he blushed madly, thrusting his hands in his pockets. "I guess it's not a good idea to sneak up on someone in a room full of monsters. I'm an idiot."

She winced at his word choice. But this was her moment to fix things, she had to play everything up or he'd know something was amiss.

"I know!" she sighed exaggeratedly, looking around as if she was disgusted. "It's so freaky."

He leaned in close to her, dropping his voice. "Did I see you sitting with Christian Ozera?" he said the name like it was a curse.

She tried not to cringe as she spoke. "I had to. I got here really late and there was nowhere else to sit."

He frowned. "Why were you late? That's not like you."

She tried to look embarrassed. "To be perfectly honest, I was kind of scared about coming here. I mean, I've been around vampires for awhile now but, this many of them in one place..." she gave a dramatic shudder.

His expression went all soft and full of concern. "Oh, I know. I felt weird the whole time, and I was sitting with humans. I can't even imagine how freaked you must have been, sitting next to _him_."

"I wish I'd known you were going to be here." she said sweetly, finding the strength to ignore his dig at Christian. "I would have liked to sit next to you."

He smiled goofily and Sydney wondered if he really did have a crush on her, as more than one person had told her in the past. She felt bad for stringing him up like this but she needed him to believe what she was saying.

"Do you want to go to the reception together?" she asked, still with that fake sticky-sweet voice.

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I'm not going. I didn't think any of the alchemists were."

Damn. _Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie_, her brain commanded furiously. "Really? It was in my list of instructions to attend."

"You got a list of instructions?" he asked, his voice slightly awed. "Wow, they must be thinking about promoting you soon. It's no surprise, you're like, super awesome. At being an alchemist, I mean. And you, know, in general."

She looked down, feigning shyness. "Aw, that's nice of you to say. But oh, darn!" she looked up, widening her eyes as much as she could. "I probably wasn't supposed to tell you. Oops."

He shook his head quickly. "Oh, don't worry. I won't say anything at all. You can trust me."

"Thanks, Ian." She put her hand on his shoulder. "You're the best."

He blushed again, then his face turned troubled. "Sydney...I know this sounds crazy but, when I saw you with Christian, you looked sort of...friendly. Like you were smiling at whatever he was saying...It just freaked me out. I actually thought...nevermind. I feel like an asshole for thinking so little of you."

Sydney felt like her jaw was going to fall off, yet she still kept her fake smile locked tight in place. "It's okay, I can see why you would think that. I just felt really bad for him, you know? I mean, he's kind of pathetic. Not even the Moroi like him."

Ian nodded. "He seems creepy."

"Totally!" Sydney gushed. "He wouldn't stop talking to me. I hated every minute of it. I couldn't wait to get away from him." The words felt bitter and wrong coming out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Ian frowned. "But that's probably why the alchemists want you at the reception. You're really good at handling yourself around them."

"It's hard," she said with fake severity. "But someone's got to do it, right?"

He nodded, looking at her like she was the eighth wonder of the world. "You really are amazing. If things get too weird at the reception, or if Ozera tries to mess with you, just call me. I'll be there in a heartbeat."

She crumpled her face into an expression she hoped resembled immense gratitude. "Thank you, Ian." She wrapped her arms around him in a brief, stiff hug. "I'll be sure to do that. I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Yeah, definitely. I mean, whenever you want to see me, you can call or, yeah..." He blushed again and mumbled an untelligible goodbye and headed in the opposite direction.

When he was out of sight, Sydney let out a huge sigh of relief. She deserved an award for that performance. Feeling infinitely better that she'd smoothed things over with Ian, she spun around happily, hoping she could maybe catch Christian if he was still around and go to the recpetion with him.

Unfortunately, it was Christian who she locked eyes with the moment she turned around.

His expression was dark, he let out a sardonic scoff. "Pathetic, huh?"

Her heart plummeted. She felt sick. He'd heard everything she'd said to Ian. "Oh, Christian, no. I just-"

He shook his head, backing away from her. "I thought you were cool, Sydney."

"I had to-" she tried to explain, but he was already walking away from her, and she could hardly cause a scene by running after a vampire with tears pricking at her eyes. It wasn't just the fact that she'd hurt Christian's feelings, she felt like garbage for doing that but she barely knew him. It was everything else on top of that. Lying to Ian. Lying to the other alchemists every time she had to act like being around the people she'd come to know as her friends was just an unfortunate job. Seeing Adrian with that girl. Being angry at herself for even caring about Adrian with another girl. She needed to get away. Not just from vampires, but from people, in general. She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself, and slipped quietly out of the building. She hailed a cab back to the hotel and trudged back up to her room, only letting herself cry once she was safely engulfed in darkness under the covers of the bed.

She must have dozed off after awhile, because she was woken with a start as she heard loud pounding on the door. _Oh, no, it's them. _was her first thought, her heart kicking into double time. _The alchemists. I didn't do a good enough job to convince Ian. They're here to drag me off to re-education._

A familiar voice shouted through the door, "Sydney! I know you're in there. Are you asleep? If you're asleep, WAKE UP!"

Rose. She sighed heavily. Rose, she could deal with. Maybe she could even tell her about what had happened with Christian. If anyone knew about what to do when you've hurt a boy's feelings, it would probably be Rose.

She padded over to the door, attempting to smooth down her now sleep-rumpled dress.

She opened the door to find not only Rose, but Lissa as well. Her cheeks went hot. "Oh, hey guys..." she said, lamely.

"What have you been doing?" Rose asked, scrunching up her face. "You look a mess."

"Rose!" Lissa chastised, slapping her on the arm. "She was obviously asleep." She turned to Sydney. "Sorry we woke you. You're not sick or anything, are you?"

So, Lissa definitely wasn't privy to what had gone down. She finally nodded after a long moment. "I was feeling a little under the weather after the wedding. I just needed to rest." Great, more lying. "I feel better now."

"Good," Rose said, pushing her way into the dark room. "Because it's party time and your face needs fixin."

Rose flipped on the light and Sydney squinted as her eyes adjusted to the glaring brightness. She blinked. "Excuse me?"

"The reception!" Rose sighed, "You're so not getting out of coming." she gave Sydney a thoughtful once over. "Your hair needs work too. I can't believe you took a nap!"

"Sorry," Sydney mumbled as Rose went to work, dumping the contents of her purse onto the bed. She grabbed a makeup wipe and started wiping underneath Sydney's eyes. "Look up," she commanded and smeared some concealer on the area. "Much better."

After a few minutes of fussing, Rose leaned back, taking in Sydney's face. "Hmm. Yeah, I think I'm done." she brandished a small mirror for Sydney to see.

She gasped. The eye makeup was much more than she'd ever wear normally and it was dark. Her lips were stained a dark berry color. "This is like, a lot." she breathed.

"Oh, whatever, it's not even that much. You look hot. Right, Liss?" Sydney looked up and Lissa nodded enthusiactially. Sydney turned to side and marveled at the fact that her cheekbones somehow looked more pronounced. "How'd you do that?"

Rose shrugged. "I saw it on a youtube video. Come on, now, up up up!" She pulled Sydney to her feet.

"What about her hair?" Lissa chimed in. "Sorry," she glanced at Sydney. "But it really does kind of need work."

Sydney sighed. "That's what I get for sleeping with it up."

Rose pursed her lips for a moment. "Here," she said, pulling at the pins in Sydney's hair and letting it tumble down around her shoulders. "There, perfect."

Sydney raked her fingers through the messy waves. "No way, it looks awful like this."

"It does not." Rose retorted, "It's like, sexy messy."

"You look great," Lissa assured her.

"What is taking so long?" another painfully familiar voice cut in as Adrian strode into the room. "You shouldn't leave the door open, you know, ladies. This hotel is probably crawling with perverts." He smirked devilishly. "Myself included."

His eyes fell on Sydney and his smirk vanished. She was reminded of the way he'd looked at her when he saw her the night of her school's dance, back in Palm Springs.

"Will you please tell her she looks good?" Rose asked, rolling her eyes. "She doesn't believe us."

Adrian's smirk returned. "What makes you think she'd listen to me?" he asked, not taking his eyes off Sydney. "Not that I don't agree." The intensity of his gaze made her whole body feel hot. She looked away, this was the last thing she needed right now.

Lissa cleared her throat. "We really should get going. Christian just texted me. People are wondering where we are."

A sick feeling washed over Sydney unpleasantly.

Rose threw her arm around Sydney, "There won't be any other alchemists at the reception, right?"

"No..." she replied distantly.

"Good! You can actually let loose for a change!" Rose exclaimed happily. She began shoving the spilled contents of her purse back inside it. She paused to check her phone. "Oops, Dimitri's been calling me. We really gotta go." She and Lissa made their way out of the hotel room, both buried in their phones, eager to get back to their boyfriends.

There may not be any alchemists, but Christian would be there, and that was almost worse. She'd rather face a barrage of angry alchemists than deal with the awkwardness of seeing him again. Maybe she could get him alone and try to explain. But even if she did, what was there to say? Sorry I said a bunch of mean stuff about you, I didn't really mean it? She'd still said it and that was bad enough.

"You really do look good," Adrian said softly, breaking her away from her thoughts. "More than good. You always do. I don't want to get myself into trouble with what I'm actually thinking, but if that's what you're looking so worried about you can calm down."

Sydney shook her head, sighing heavily. "Adrian..." she said, "Can I tell you something?"

He moved closer to her. "Anything."

She opened her mouth to tell him what had happened when she suddenly remembered the beautiful girl he'd walked down the aisle with, which also reminded her of another pressing matter.

"What did you say to Christian before you left?" she blurted.

He raised his eyebrows. "That's more of an asking than a telling."

"That's not the point," she said, crossing her arms. "What did you say?"

He smiled widely, shrugging his shoulders. "I can't quite remember," he chuckled, putting his finger on his chin as if he were actually pondering. "You'll have to ask Christian."

Sydney's frown deepened. "I kind of can't."

"What do you mean?"

Just then Rose appeared at the doorway. "Um, hello? Did you miss the part where I said we need to go? Come on, slow pokes."

Sydney shook her head. "Never mind." Adrian narrowed his eyes, not wanting to let the subject drop. But they both left the room without another word. Sydney's stomach flip flopped as they all crammed into a taxi, on their way to where the reception was being held. She may not have been psychic, but she had an overwhelming feeling that what ever was going to happen once they got there wasn't going to be good.

**_A/N: Sorry, I know there was a lack of Sydrian in this chapter, but there will be heaps more angst and tension and maybe some mouth to mouth action in the next one! I promise! Thank you to everyone who reviewed this, by the way. I never expected to get such a response!_**


	3. Ch 3 - Everybody Breaks A Glass

As soon as they arrived at the venue, Lissa and Rose were scurrying off to find their boyfriends. Sydney sighed. She couldn't really imagine being so attached to someone. When she was dating Brayden, she certainly enjoyed his company when they were together, but when they were apart she felt, well, just the same as always. She wasn't checking her phone incessantly to see if he'd texted or called. She didn't feel like there was some big weight on her chest, or like a part of her was missing, or anything. And that's how love was supposed to feel, right? The closest thing she'd ever felt to something like that was the panicky feeling she got when Adrian left her at the wedding. The thought had crept up on her unexpectedly, and she shoved it away quickly, embarrassed to think it, even for a second. That was not the same thing at all. Not even close.

Sonya and Mikhail were standing at the entrance, arms wrapped loosely around each other, greeting everyone with warm smiles.

"I'm so glad you could make it, Sydney." Sonya said, stepping forward to gather her in a hug. "You look absolutely lovely."

Sydney blushed, unprepared for the compliment, and stammered a strangled "thank you" as she stepped back from the embrace. "_You_ look stunningly beautiful, the ceremony was beautiful as well, it was like a fairy tale wedding." She smiled, looking past Sonya to where Mikhail stood ardently by. "Congratulations to you both."

"Thank you," they both answered at the same time, then shot each other knowing looks.

"Couldn't have done it without this guy," Mikhail added, stepping forward to clap Adrian on the back. "Thanks for stepping in."

"Ah, yes." Sonya smiled brightly at Adrian, "Imagine my surprise seeing this handsome young man as I walked out."

"A pleasant surprise, I hope." Adrian went into full schmooze mode, taking Sonya's hand in his and gingerly bringing it to his lips. "You look like an angel. Better hold on tight to this one, Mikhail."

The couple laughed good-naturedly at Adrian's antics. "I could say the same to you," Mikhail said, glancing toward Sydney.

"Don't I know it," Adrian sighed, sliding his arm around her. Sydney just stood there, frozen, too shocked to say anything.

"You two enjoy yourselves," Sonya smiled, before turning her attention to more guests that were arriving.

"What on earth was that about?" Sydney hissed as soon as they were out of earshot, shrugging roughly out of Adrian's grip.

Adrian's face was the picture of innocence. "What do you mean?"

"Forgive me for being so blunt," she whispered, "But does _everyone_ know you're in love with me these days?"

Adrian looked confused, then smirked. "Oh, you mean Mikhail? Well, you and I both know subtlety isn't one of my strong points, but he was joking, Sage. Relax. He was just trying to say you were pretty."

Sydney blushed, feeling incredibly stupid. She looked away, taking in the view of her surroundings. "This place is so..." she trailed off, searching for the right word.

"Awesome?" Adrian supplied, wasting no time in grabbing a flute filled with champagne from one of the flat trays that crisply dressed waiters were carrying them around on , something Sydney only thought happened in old movies. He knocked back the bubbling liquid in one gulp.

"Renting this place must have cost a fortune," Sydney mused. It was a large lounge-esque building, one that was built specifically for wedding receptions and the like. The walls were covered in large glass windows, gauzy curtains hanging down uselessly from each one. Long, flat black couches were placed evenly across the hardwood floor for people to sit on. Dangling above their heads were rows of round glittering lights, dimmed to create the perfect romantic atmosphere.

"Yeah, well..." Adrian shrugged, "Mikhail was really intent on everything being the best for Sonya. You should have heard him barking out our instructions for the ceremony like a drill sergeant. I think he wants to make up for all that time she spent being Strigoi, and you know, because he's crazy in love with her."

"I suppose that is rather romantic," Sydney said, smiling slightly. She was glad Sonya was getting her happy ever after. Mikhail seemed like a good man and Adrian was right, the unconditional love he had for Sonya was plain on his face every time he looked at her. Once again, Sydney couldn't really imagine being in love like that. It was inconceivable to her that she could give herself over to another person that way, or that another person could do the same for her. She unwittingly replayed some of Adrian's earlier words to her in her mind. He claimed that he loved her, but how could he be sure? How could anyone be sure? People always said when you knew, you knew. But that was ridiculous. Maybe Sydney Sage just wasn't cut out for that kind of thing. She sighed, trying to tell herself that was a good thing.

"I see my homeland awaits," Adrian almost purred. Sydney broke free from her semi-depressive haze and looked to where he was staring with a glazed over expression. The bar. Of course. She rolled her eyes.

"Adrian, please don't overdo it tonight." she warned. "Nobody likes the obnoxious drunk guy at the wedding."

"Yeah, yeah. Nobody likes a buzzkill, either." He nudged her and smiled widely.

Sydney gasped, feigning offense. "I'll remember that remark when you're wasted and stumbling around, begging me for help because you can't tell the floor from the ceiling."

"As if you're my only option," he countered, raising his eyebrows. "Flatter yourself much, Sage?"

Sydney couldn't help but blush slightly at his words. She was used to being the one cleaning up after his messes. She'd never admit this out loud, especially not to him, but a small part of her sort of...didn't mind it so much. Not that she liked him getting himself into such messes. That, she hated. But being the one to take care of him, the one he came to when he needed someone, that wasn't so bad.

"As if anyone else would put up with you like I do," she finally mumbled, refusing to look at him.

"You've got me, there." he smiled. "That's yet another one of the reasons we're meant for each other."

"Adrian!" she hissed, giving him a hard look. She was sure her cheeks were bright red.

He nudged her again. "Relax, I'm joking. Well, I'm not, actually. But you can pretend I am, if it makes you feel better."

"You said you weren't going to make me feel bad," Sydney reminded him dismally, an unpleasant sensation rising in her stomach.

"I'm sorry," he said, not sounding the least bit apologetic. He looked back toward the bar longingly. "But if I'm going to uphold that promise, I'm going to need another drink."

She shook her head, "Go on, then. Have fun. But be careful."

"You're the one who should have a little fun," he said, looking back to rest his gaze on her. A wicked grin appear on his face. "Let me buy you a drink."

"Absolutely not," Sydney said, shocked at the suggestion. "I'm not even legal to drink yet."

"So what?" Adrian asked, as if that were irrelevent. "It's a wedding, Sage. Everybody drinks. What happens here stays here, that sort of thing."

She scoffed, "All the more reason for me to be the responsible one."

He rolled his eyes. "Try to have a little fun, at least. Dance or something." His expression darkened suddenly. "Not with any boys, though."

She blushed, unequipped to deal with him being territorial. She tried to keep her tone light. "What are you, my dad now?"

"No, and thank God for that." he winked. "Unless you want to call me daddy, if you're into that sort of thing."

"Okay, now you're being disgusting." Sydney slapped his arm as hard as she could. "Get out of my sight."

Adrian chuckled, "The Sage doth protest too much, methinks."

"You don't even know what that means." she rolled her eyes, but she was unable to stop herself from smiling.

"You wound me, Sage, you really do." Adrian pouted dramatically. "I'll have you know I've read Macbeth, like, heaps of times."

Sydney laughed so hard she almost snorted. "That's great, but what you just said is a quote from Hamlet, which I'm guessing you've read zero times."

Adrian laughed as well, a lovely musical sound, then leaned close to her to whisper. "I totally knew that. I was just testing you."

"Riiiight." Sydney nodded sarcastically. His closeness was beginning to make her feel light-headed. "Of course you were."

"You calling me a liar?" Adrian pressed even closer to her as he spoke, grinning that stupid sly grin of his. "I can prove you wrong."

"Adrian." she warned, backing away from him. "Stop it. People can see us." she looked around anxiously, thankfully at the moment no one was looking in their direction.

Adrian raised his eyebrows. "That can be easily remedied. Let's find a dark corner." his hand ghosted against the bare skin of her arm.

"_Adrian_," she said his name more forcefully, amazed she found the strength to do so when her legs felt like jelly and her brain felt like it had been engulfed in fogginess . "Seriously. Stop it. You promised you wouldn't do this."

He stepped back, putting up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "You're right. Again. I'm sorry. But it's hard to control myself when you look so..." he paused, letting his eyes roam lazily over her body, biting his lip as he did so. She felt the urge to slap him again. Only this time across the face.

"I don't think you want to finish that sentence," she said, looking away from him. She caught sight of Dimitri and Christian at the bar then. They must have managed to extract themselves from Rose and Lissa. She swallowed. She still needed to try to fix things with Christian.

"There's Dimitri," Sydney said, looking back at Adrian, eager to change the subject. "Isn't he supposed to be buying your drinks for your valiant efforts to save the wedding?"

Adrian's eyes widened with delight. "Oh my God, you're right. I almost forgot. Hey, Belikov!" he raised his voice, striding over to the bar. "Have a martini ready for me by the time I get over there! I take em dirty!"

Sydney shook her head as he went, but was grateful Adrian was out of her hair for at least a little while. It seemed prolonged contact with him seemed to have unhinging effect on her, and she didn't know quite how to deal with that.

She was a mixture of disappointed and relieved to see that Christian had disappeared from the bar. She wanted to talk to him but she didn't really have a clue what she should say. She sighed heavily, thinking she should probably try to find where Rose and Lissa had gone.

She did a lap around the massive room, Rose and Lissa nowhere in sight. She guessed they might be in the bathroom, and scanned the area, looking for where they were located. She pivoted quickly to her right and felt her body press up against someone else's.

"Oh, pardon me." She said quickly. "I'm so sorry. I didn't see you." she attempted to side-step right out of this awkward situation but the body in front of her stepped in the same direction, blocking her path. She looked up to see a man she didn't recognize. His dark hair was slicked back tight agaisnt his scalp. He flashed her a big smile, revealing his fangs. A Moroi. She attempted a weak smile in return, feeling sick.

"Oh, my." he crooned, his voice had a unsettling quality to it. He propped one of his hands under his chin, and Syndey was momentarily distracted by the garish, expensive looking watch that adorned his wrist. "An alchemist in our midst? To what do I owe the honor?"

Sydney couldn't tell what this guy's deal was, if he was trying to be friendly and coming across as super creepy, or the other way around. The word that came to mind when she looked at him was _slimy_.

She let out a short laugh, trying to remain calm. "I'm here on business and I'm...acquainted with the bride. I'm really sorry about bumping into you. I'm just trying to find the ladies room." She tried walking past him but he turned his body with hers, again blocking her path.

"Not so fast, little alchemist." his smile turned wolfish. Sydney's heart thudded in her chest. "Why don't you let me escort you? A tiny little thing like you all by yourself..." he made a_ tsk _sound with his tongue and teeth. "Why, that's just asking for trouble."

Sydney tried to laugh again, and smile, like she was flattered by his words. "Thank you, I appreciate the offer, but I'm just fine, if you'll excuse me..." She waited for him to step aside, but he didn't. Instead he cocked his head to the side, like he was amused.

"I'm afraid I must insist," he said, and brought that hand from under his chin, extending it toward her. She jerked away instinctively, but his hand kept moving forward, inches from her neck, and then all of a sudden another hand appeared, closing around the man's wrist and jerking it in the opposite direction.

"What is your problem?" she heard the slimy man growl. Sydney blinked rapidly as she processed what was happening. She looked past Slimy and into the icy blue eyes of Christian Ozera.

"Oh, my apologies." Christian smiled brightly at Slimy, his hand still clamped tightly around his wrist. "I was just admiring your watch as I walked by, what is this, stainless steel?" he jerked the man's wrist right up to his eyes, examining it closely. Slimy's expression mimicked that of extreme discomfort. Sydney watched in confusion as his expression darkened further, and then he let out a high pitched yelp, making her and a few people who were socializing close by jump. He tried to pull his arm away but Christian held fast, all the while keeping that easy smile on his face. After a long moment, he released Slimy's wrist.

Slimy narrowed his eyes, bringing his other hand to close down on the wrist Christian had been holding. As soon as his hand came in contact with it, he pulled it away violently, hissing as if he was in pain.

"It's really something," Christian added conversationally, "Where did you get it?"

If looks could kill, Christian would have been dead on the floor. "Oh, go to hell, Ozera." Slimy sneered darkly before making a big show of storming past him, bumping his shoulder roughly against Christian's.

Christian spun around and called jovially to Slimy's retreating figure. "Sure thing, I'll save you a seat!"

He turned back to Sydney. "You okay?"

Sydney nodded, in a daze. After a few moments of blinking, she found her voice. "Thanks. I, uh, you didn't have to do that." Whatever he had just done...

Christian shrugged. "Just following orders."

Sydney raised an eyebrow. "Orders?"

Christian smiled, leaning in closer to her. "You asked me, earlier, what Adrian said to me before he went off with Dimitri?"

Sydney just stared.

He dropped his voice to a whisper. "His exact words were: _If anyone touches her, set them on fire_."

Sydney sputtered, "What?!" Suddenly the recent events made a lot more sense."Is that what you just did?"

He shook his head. "Oh, no. I just heated up the metal in his watch enough to burn his skin. It'll cool down in a few, but it'll leave a nasty mark." he smirked, clearly pleased with himself.

"You're not supposed to use your power like that," she said, because that's what she was supposed to say. She realized this was the second time vampire magic had come to her aid in the past 24 hours.

"Yeah, well." Christian just shrugged, "Maybe when he looks down and sees it he'll think twice before harrassing a girl again. Or wearing such an ugly watch."

Sydney felt her heart squeeze in her chest. "Christian..." she sighed, "I don't know what to say."

He shrugged again, flipping his hair out of his eyes. "You don't have to say anything."

"No, I do." Sydney took a step forward, "Let me start with, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that you heard what I said to Ian." she shook her head, "I didn't mean it. It's like I told you before, the alchemists don't trust me like they used to. They already think I've gotten too close to vampires, the littlest thing could set them off and so when Ian saw me and you together, I panicked. I knew I'd have to lie my face off to keep them off my back."

"I'm not a complete idiot, Sydney." Christian chuckled, "I kind of figured as much. Well, I came to that conclusion eventually." He looked away, then back at her. "It just kind of sucked, hearing you say that stuff. You were pretty convincing." he gave her a wan smile.

"I had to be," she replied, miserably. "If they knew the truth..." she sighed, "They'd pull me out of Palm Springs immediately, and I'd probably never see any of you again."

He raised his eyebrows. "Just for being friends with us?"

"They sent my ex co-worker to re-education for less than that." She frowned.

"Re-education?" Christian asked curiously.

"It's where they send anyone they feel has breached the line of an appropriate relationship with a vampire, which is no relationship at all."

"Whoa." Christian breathed. "That's..." he shook his head in disbelief. "Intense."

Sydney nodded, unsure of how to continue the conversation. "Anyway, I'm just sorry you had to hear what I said. Even though it wasn't true."

But Christian had other things on his mind. "Forget that," he said, his eyebrows knitting together now in concern. "If you can get sent to Alchemist Alcatraz for something so minor, don't you think..." he paused, a slight blush rising to his cheeks. "Don't you think you should end things with Adrian?"

Sydney almost choked. "There is nothing to end between me and Adrian, because there's _nothing going on _between me and Adrian."

He cocked an eyebrow dubiously. "Might wanna tell Adrian that."

Sydney rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I have." As if on cue, she caught Adrian out of the corner of her eye, leaned up against a far wall, the not unattractive bridesmaid leaning against him, saying something with her lips pressed up against his ear. The sight made her stomach flip weirdly. Not too long ago he'd told her they were meant for each other, and now here was all over some other girl. Not that it mattered. It just went to show how not serious he was about his feelings for her, which was a _good_ thing. "Case in point," she said to Christian, nodding her head in their direction.

Christian turned his head and frowned. He looked back to Sydney, opening his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by two whirlwinds in dresses attacking him from behind.

"There you are!" Lissa shouted, wrapping her arms around him. She looked up and smiled. "And you found Sydney!"

"We've been looking everywhere for you!" Rose exclaimed, "Where have you been?"

"I was looking for you guys, too." Sydney laughed. "Where were you?"

"Over there!" Rose yelled, flailing her arm in the air uselessly. "Have you started drinking?"

Sydney shook her head. "No, and I don't plan to. Someone has to be responsible."

"But you're _always _responsible." Rose whined. "Come on Sydney, live a little, please!"

"Pleeeease," Lissa added, bouncing up and down lightly. Both girls were clearly already a few drinks past tipsy and going strong. "We want you to have fun with us, because you're our friend!" She looked up lovingly at Christian. "Sydney's our friend."

"I know," Christian smiled at her, kissing her softly on the forehead. "She's awesome."

Sydney was suddenly overcome with emotion. It was embarrassing, but she wasn't used to having people like this in her life. People who actually wanted her to be around, people who seemed to like her, people who called her their friend.

"Okay," she conceded after a long moment. "I will have one drink. And that's it."

"Yeah!" Rose and Lissa cheered together. Rose grabbed for Sydney's arm and linked hers in it. "The party don't start til Sydney walks in!" she sing-songed, shoving her playfully as she dragged her to the bar.

"I'm only having one drink." Sydney reminded her, trying to keep her steady as she stumbled.

"Famous last words." Rose taunted, giggling.

"Is Lissa coming?" Sydney asked, looking back to where they'd all been standing.

"She'll catch up," Rose sighed, "She gets really clingy when she's drunk. Young love." She made a gagging noise.

"I don't think you have much room to talk," Sydney laughed. "You and Dimitri were sort of intolerable at times. And you weren't even techncially together back then."

Rose smiled a goofy smile then. "That seems so long ago..." she snorted, "God, can you believe I was dating Adrian back then?"

Sydney swallowed uncomfortably. This was not where she wanted the conversation to head.

Thankfully they'd succeeded in reaching the bar at that point. "So, what should I have for my first drink?"

"Shots!" Rose announced, drumming her fingers on the bar. "Shots Shots Shots Shots!"

"Okay!" Sydney exclaimed, resisting the urge to clamp her hand over Rose's mouth. A shot actually didn't seem like a bad idea. Just a quick little gulp of whatever and she'd be done. She certainly wouldn't be drunk of that. "I'll do a shot."

Rose waved the bartender over. "Get the girl a shot! Of...wait...what do you want a shot of?"

The bartender looked wearily between the two of them, probably tired of dealing with cheesy music and loud, drunk people.

Sydney just shrugged. "I don't know...um..." she looked to Rose for help.

Rose scrunched her face up. "Ugh. Where's Adrian when you actually need him?"

Sydney winced at the mention of Adrian's name, the second time Rose had brought him up in the past five minutes.

"Just...vodka will be fine." Sydney said, smiling at the bartender. "Any vodka, whatever you have..."

"Oh," the bartender seemed to notice Sydney for the first time. "It's you."

Rose and Sydney eyed him, confused. "Huh?" Rose grunted.

He turned around to fill a shot glass with clear liquid. He slid it toward her. "You're Sydney Sage, right?"

"Um...yes..." Sydney said cautiously. "How did you know that?"

He shrugged. "Guy came up to the bar a few minutes ago. Said you might come up here soon, said you'd have a tattoo on your face and that you're name was Sydney Sage. He said what ever you ordered was on him."

"_Well,_" Rose huffed, "Did this generous admirer leave a name, by chance?"

Sydney immediately felt sick to her stomach, the image of Slimy popping up in her mind. She certainly wasn't going to accept any "generosity" from him.

"Yeah," the bartender said, glancing up as if he was trying to remember. "Jet, I think. Jet Steele."

It was a good thing Sydney hadn't brought the drink to her lips yet because she would have choked on it.

Rose scowled. "That's the dumbest name I've ever heard."

The bartender just shrugged and walked away.

"Who the hell is Jet Steele?" Rose asked, leaning her head on her hand.

"I'm gonna drink this now," Sydney said, picking up the shot glass and ignoring her question.

"We made it in time to see baby's first drink!" Lissa squealed, appearing seemingly from thin air right beside her. Christian was at her side, smiling.

"Do either of you know a Jet Steele?" Rose asked, craning her neck to where Lissa and Christian were standing.

Lissa furrowed her brow in thought. "No, I don't think so, why?"

"Okay!" Sydney exclaimed, bringing the glass to her mouth, "Here I go."

She tipped the glass back and tried to swallow it down as quickly as possible. The liquid was bitter and burned her throat. It tasted exactly how rubbing alcohol smelled. She closed her eyes tightly, trying not to cough. After a few moments the burning sensation in her throat and chest settled, and she opened her eyes. Rose, Lissa, and Christian erupted into loud cheers.

"What are we celebrating?" Sydney looked up to see Dimitri and Adrian had come upon the scene. Dimitri place his hand on Rose's back, stroking it absent-mindedly.

"You missed it!" Rose laughed, "I got Sydney to take a shot."

Dimitri raised his eyebrows. Adrian just smirked.

"Took it like a champ," Christian added, patting Sydney on the shoulder. "No chaser or anything. Way to go, Sage."

Adrian's smirk vanished. Sydney blushed. Lissa cleared her throat awkwardly, then shook her head slightly at Christian. Sydney was close enough to hear her whisper, _Don't call her that._

Rose turned her attention to Dimitri and Adrian. "Do you know who Jet Steele is?"

That almost got Adrian's smile to return. "Never heard of him," he answered. "Sounds like a badass, though."

"Why do you ask?" Dimitri asked, looking down at her.

"Apparently he's got the hots for Sydney, whoever he is." Rose shrugged.

"It sounds like the kind of name someone would make up instead of giving their real one," Christian frowned. "You don't think it's creeper?"

"It's not." Sydney answered quickly, knowing Christian was speaking of Slimy.

"Hmm?" Rose looked toward Sydney. "Who's creeper?"

"Just some guy from earlier," Sydney sighed, wanting the subject to drop. "I bumped into him when I was looking for you and Lissa. He was...well I don't really know what he was trying to do, but Christian took care of it."

"Well, thank God for that," Adrian said bitterly, "Where would this world be without Christian?" And with that, he turned and stalked off, pushing his way through the crowds of people, heading for the exit of the building.

Rose rolled her eyes. "What's he pissed about? Wait, what were we talking about again?"

Dimitri wrapped his hand gently around the back of her neck. "Maybe we should get some food and water in you, Roza."

"Noooo," she moaned, "I'm fine! I just want to know who Jet Steele is." she slumped forward, her head falling against the bar.

Sydney pushed back from the bar, sighing. "I'll go talk to him."

"Jet Steele?" Rose snapped her head back up lazily. "You know who he is?"

"No, I mean Adrian." Sydney replied, almost smiling at the irony of her statement.

"Oh," Rose slumped her head back down, muffing her voice, "don't bother, he's just being a drama queen."

Sydney just grimaced and muttered that she'd be back, taking off after Adrian.

* * *

Christian looked between Lissa and Dimitri. "I don't get it," he said, genuinely confused. "Did I do something?"

Lissa looked at him, frowning. "You called her Sage. That's Adrian's nickname for her."

"Oh." Christian said, mentally kicking himself. He realized, then, that he'd never heard anyone beside Adrian call her that. "Damn. Well, I didn't know."

"And you saved her from that guy," Lissa added, shaking her head slightly. "What did you even do, by the way?" her face was concerned.

"Nothing that wasn't neccessary," he replied defensively, "And Adrian told me to! He said if anyone messed with Sydney to take them out. The guy was practically molesting her, what else was I supposed to do?"

"He'll get over it," Dimitri said, trying to coerce Rose into drinking a bottle of water he'd ordered. "You know how Adrian is. He's just jealous. And drunk. A lethal combination."

"Why's Adrian jealous?" Rose asked, tentatively sipping from the bottled water. "Oh no, it's because of me, isn't it?"

"No, Roza." Dimitri said softly, "It's not because of you."

"I miss being friends with him," she sighed, falling against Dimitri sleepily. "Do you think he still hates me?"

"I doubt it," Christian said, smirking. "He's got bigger problems to deal with these days."

"Christian." Lissa hissed, elbowing him in the ribs.

"What?" he asked, rubbing the spot she'd hit, "I'm just saying."

"Wait!" Rose yelled suddenly, sitting up right. "Did you say someone molested Sydney?"

"Almost," Christian corrected. "I told you, I took care of it."

"Good," Rose said narrowing her eyes, then she looked around, and frowned. "Where did Sydney go?"

"To talk to Adrian," Dimitri reminded her gently, "Here, drink some more water."

She took a long gulp of water and stood up. "I'm going to go find them."

"No!" Lissa, Christian, and Dimitri all said at once. Rose looked around at them, confused.

"Why not?"

"Just say here," Lissa said, "They'll be back soon."

Rose narrowed her eyes again. "I'm going to go get some fresh air."

"Here, let me help you." Dimitri said, grabbing her arms, but Rose batted his hands away.

"No, no. I'm fine. I changed my mind, anyway. I have to pee."

"I'll go with you," Lissa offered.

"Why are you all acting so weird?" Rose asked, clutching her head. "You're giving me a headache. I'm just going to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

* * *

"Adrian!" Sydney called, pushing the door that led outside into the cool night air open, "Don't be like this."

He was fumbling around in his pockets for something, muttering to himself.

"Just go back inside, Sydney." he said, his tone as icy as the wind that whipped around her. "I came out here to be alone."

"No, you came out here because you're upset." Sydney said, as he continued patting around his legs and then his chest, "What are you looking for?"

"A goddamn cigarette," he growled, his hands frantically searching inside his jacket. "I haven't had one in weeks..."

That surprised her. She stepped forward, grabbing his hands and holding them. "Stop." she whispered. "Just stop. Take a deep breath."

He looked down at his hands in hers, stopping in his tracks. That was what she'd hoped for. He inhaled shakily. "What are you doing?"

She let his hands drop. "You needed to calm down," she said softly.

"Why'd you follow me?" he asked, looking away from her.

"Because I was worried," she said, shrugging slightly. "And because I don't want you to be upset. There's no reason to be."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't need you to babysit me, you know. I'm a big boy."

"Then stop acting like a baby," she said, earning a sharp look from Adrian.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to your knight in shining armor?" Adrian asked, kicking at the ground, "or whatever."

"If you mean Christian..." Sydney scoffed loudly. "You're the one who told him to look out for me. And would you rather have him just let that guy...do whatever he was going to do to me?" Sydney shuddered at the memory of Slimy's hands inches away from her neck.

Adrian's expression was dark. "No," he finally said. He finally looked toward her. "What happened?" he asked, his voice devoid of any bitterness or sarcasm.

Sydney shrugged. "I really don't know. I was looking for Rose and Lissa, I bumped into this guy on accident. He was a Moroi. At first I thought he was just like, overly friendly, but then when I tried to get away from him he wouldn't let me. He tried to grab me, and then Christian was there, following your orders, might I add. I think he almost burned the guy's hand off."

Adrian's expression turned even darker. "Good." He sighed, "I'm glad he was there, Sydney, I'm glad you didn't get hurt. I just..." he shook his head, "never mind."

"No," she said gently, reaching for one of his hands again and holding it. "Tell me. Talk to me, please."

"I wish it would have been me, obviously." he rolled his eyes, "I want to be the one who saves you and makes you go all swoony. Duh."

Sydney sighed. "First of all, if you think I'm swooning over Christian, then you're an even bigger idiot than I thought."

Adrian smiled at that, then when back to brooding. "He called you Sage."

"Well, that is my name." Sydney said, not wanting to go down this road.

"You know what I mean." Adrian said softly, stepping closer to her. "You're _my_ Sage."

Her breath caught in her throat. His voice was like velvet and he was so close to her. Close enough to make her head spin. "I'm not your anything," she said after a moment. She sighed heavily. "You're being a little overly sensitive."

"I'm drunk!" he announced loudly, spreading his arms wide. "Of course I am."

"Second of all," Sydney referred back to her original point, "While I was being accosted, you were a bit busy with your little bridesmaid buddy, so you really haven't a leg to stand on when it comes to playing the jealousy card."

He scrunched up his face in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"I saw you all over that girl from the wedding," Sydney said, "Don't try to deny it."

"_She_ was all over _me_!" Adrian argued. "I can't help it that women throw themselves at me, Sage. It's not as if my good looks and charm have an off button."

Sydney shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek as not to smile . "You're really unbelievable, you know that?"

"Why do you care, anyway?" he asked, "You're not my anything, remember?"

Sydney blushed, "I don't!" she answered quickly, so she wouldn't have to actually think about that question. "You're free to do whatever you want with whomever you want. But all I'm saying is, you can't do that and then get jealous just because I'm talking to someone else."

Adrian shook his head slowly, "This _sucks_."

"What sucks?" Sydney asked.

"Being in love with you," he grumbled, pouting.

Sydney blinked. "Well, then, stop."

"As if I can just stop," Adrian sighed, "If only it were so easy. I can't just stop loving you. I tried that already. It's literally impossible."

Sydney shook her head. "How do you even know you're in love with me?" she asked. He opened his mouth but she cut him off. "No, I'm seriously asking. Becuase I've been thinking about it a lot and I still don't understand. How can you be so sure I'm the only person in the world for you? I mean, you can't."

"I can, though." he said with complete confidence.

"How?" Sydney asked, "You used to think Rose was the only person in the world for you, too."

Adrian scoffed. "First of all, I never thought Rose was the only person in the world for me. Sure, I wanted her. Badly. And I thought I loved her. Maybe I did, in a way, but this is completely different from that. I thought I explained this to you, Sydney. What I feel for you is...on a whole other level of existence than anything I've ever felt before, it's-"

"I'm sorry I brought it up," Sydney cut him off, not wanting to hear this. "We shouldn't-"

"No, let me finish," he said, "I don't just want you because I can't have you. I mean, yeah, that definitely drives me crazy, makes me want you all that much more, but in the big scheme of things that's totally irrelevant."

He was much too close to her now, and he had that slightly wild look in his eyes. Sydney was reminded of the fact that spirit could sometimes becomes too much for a user to deal with, and it would manifest itself in unpleasant ways. With Adrian, sometimes he seemed to go off on these nonsensical tangents, like a crazy person, and that's certainly how he looked and sounded right now, but unfortunately Sydney didn't think it was spirirt that was to blame.

"I love everything about you," he continued, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's not just because you're beautiful, either. It's all of you. Your brilliant mind, your sneaky sense of humor that most people seem to miss, your drive and ambition, they inspire me."

"Adrian, please." Sydney breathed, she couldn't just stand here and listen to him say all these things to her. They were wonderful, lovely things that made her sure she was blushing like mad. But the fact that Adrian was the one saying them made her stomach turn over like she was on a rollercoaster. He couldn't feel this way about her. He just _couldn't. _

"You asked," he said, his voice sounding considerably more normal. "You know, when Rose broke up with me, she told me I needed to find someone who balanced me out. I thought it was just a cheap line at the time, but she was right. I never thought I'd find someone who makes me feel so...grounded as you do. And you can't tell me that is one-sided. I know you feel the same way about me, in that aspect, at least."

Sydney bit her lip. She couldn't exactly disagree. It was true. It wasn't that painful pining feeling that still evaded her, but when Adrian wasn't around her, especially ever since they kissed, she felt inexplicably...weird. Like, something just wasn't quite right. She'd chalked it up to the fact that they hadn't been on speaking terms, which was awful. But now that they were, the feeling still lingered, like when he'd left her at the wedding. And when he'd gone off to drink with Dimitri. It was like when he was gone she was holding her breath and didn't even realize it until he returned and she could finally exhale.

"I agree with you, Adrian." she said softly, trying to choose her words very carefully. "I think we get along great because we're very similar in a lot of ways, and you're right. We help each other, we..." she paused, taking a steadying breath. "We balance each other out."

He smiled a different sort of smile, then. One that threw Sydney completely off balance. It reminded her of the knowing glances Sonya and Mikhail had been sharing all day, which was ridiculous, because that was true love in motion. This was...something else. Something that needed to stop before it went too far.

"I want to be your friend, Adrian." Sydney continued, swallowing hard. "I want that more than anything. I care about you and I think you're amazing, but I just can't reciprocate anything more than that."

His smiled faded, but only slightly. "What's reciprocate mean?"

"To respond to in a corresponding fashion." she said, "Synonyms being return, requite, repay-"

"I got it." he said, thankfully cutting her off before she went on an unnecessarily long grammar tangent. "That would be fine with me, Sydney. I want you in my life in any way I can get you, and if I truly believed it was as simple as you not loving me back, then I would move on and be happy to be your friend, but I don't believe that."

"Well, I don't believe you, either!" Sydney surprised herself by blurting out.

Adrian was confused. "What do you mean?"

Sydney shook her head. "You keep saying you love me, Adrian. Love. That word is just...so unfathomable to me. It's a big deal to say that to someone, you know. I don't understand how people just throw it around all the time. How do you even know what love is?"

"I didn't," Adrian said simply. "Not until I met you."

"Oh God," Sydney brought her hands up to cover her face.

Adrian chuckled, "Okay, that was a little cheesy, I admit. But it's still true." His face turned serious again. "I'm not just throwing it around, you know. I only say that word when I mean it." A strange look passed over his perfect features. "Oh. That's what this is really about, isn't it?"

Sydney looked up at him through the slits in her fingers. "Excuse me?"

"You're afraid to love me back because you think I don't really love you." Adrian said, with a smug I-just-solved-a-mystery expression on his face.

Sydney frowned. The words hit a nerve she wasn't ready for. Focusing on the fact that she and Adrian couldn't be together because of all the obvious reasons, like the fact that he was a vampire and she was a human, was almost like a security blanket, of sorts. As long as she held onto that then she didn't have to deal with what her own feelings for him might be, or the fact that falling in love was a little bit terrifying.

"Sage," he said softly, bridging the gap between their bodies so he was close enough to touch her face. She should have pushed him away, but she didn't. His emerald eyes gazed directly into hers. "I love you. How else do you want me to say it? What do I need to do to prove it?" he sighed, "I don't really think I need to. I know you can't still be hung up on my less than stellar reputation. You know me, Sage. You know me better than anyone."

She stared back at him, unable to tear herself away. He was so close to her, if she were to lean forward just a little bit their lips could be touching. No no no, why was she even thinking like that?

"I am ill at these numbers," he said with a sly smile, "I have not art to reckon my groans, but that I love thee best, oh most best, believe it."

A stupid smile wormed its way onto Sydney's face. She had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. "You are ridiculous." she finally managed to say.

"I told you I knew Hamlet," was all he said in reply. "And you didn't believe me." he shook his head, "You should really start having a little more faith in me."

"I have all the faith in the world in you," Sydney replied automatically. "I just wish you would understand that we can't do this."

"I'm going to choose to ignore the second half of that statement," Adrian murmured, cupping her face with his hands. "And I'm going to kiss you now."

"No you're not." Sydney commanded, but she made no effort to break free of his grasp.

"Tell me you don't want me to," he whispered, his lips were so close they ever so lightly brushed against hers when he spoke, sending a jolt of lightning through her.

She closed her eyes. "What I want doesn't matter," she breathed.

"What you want is all that matters, to me." his forehead rested against hers. "Just one kiss," he said. "Just give me tonight. If you still feel the same way in the morning, then I really won't bother you about this anymore. I swear. But we're here now, alone. There's no alchemists, no one else but us. Just make a mistake for once," he laughed softly. "It's good for you."

"You're not a mistake-" she started to say but she couldn't finish because his lips were on hers after that, kissing her soundly. She closed her eyes and the world fell away. She should have been thinking about how nothing good could come of this, that this would just confuse both their feelings more, that someone could possibly see them, but thought was not an option when she was kissing Adrian. She brought her hands up around his neck, pulling him closer. It was a slow, deep kiss that made her whole body tingle. One of his hands moved from her face to trace down her neck, then down her spine which made her shiver against him. He made a soft groaning sound against her lips. She moved her mouth against his relentlessly, wishing she could just kiss him forever and never have to stop.

An indiscernible amount of time later, they did stop, foreheads pressed together, breathing heavily. Adrian reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear, stroking her cheek affectionately as he did so. She looked up at him shyly. Butterflies flurried around in her stomach as her eyes met his. He smiled that knowing smile at her, and she was preparing to disentangle herself from him when she heard a strange noise off to her right.

She and Adrian both whipped their heads around to see Rose Hathaway standing a few feet away from them, an overwrought look of disgust on her face.

She looked back and forth between the two of them, shaking her head in disbelief. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."


	4. Ch 4 - Here's To The Night pt 1

In her life thus far, Rose Hathaway had seen a lot of shit. She'd been through the ringer and back again. She was calloused to things that would shock most people. She didn't really think much _could_ shock her at this point, she liked to think she was wholly prepared for any curve ball the world could throw at her.

Nothing, however, could have prepared her for the sight of her ex boyfriend, Adrian Ivashkov, the wild party boy, making out with Sydney Sage. The quiet, reserved, sometimes downright uptight Alchemist she'd come to know as a friend. The thought alone was incomprehensible. Even though she was watching it happen right in front of her she couldn't believe it. Sydney was a human, an _alchemist_ human. Adrian was a Moroi, and he was...Adrian! And she was Sydney. Sydney! And they were...kissing each other ...It didn't make any sense. Not only was it unthinkable, it was gross. They were not the same _race_. It was like watching one of those overly attached pet owners let their dog slobber all over their mouth, only 10 times worse. She felt bile rise up in her throat, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from them. When they finally stopped sucking each other's faces, Adrian reached his hand up to push back Sydney's hair, smiling down at her like...like...Oh _God_...and she was looking up at him like she...No. No way in hell was this happening right now. An unexpected, high pitched gurgle escaped Rose's throat. She slapped her hand over her mouth but it was too late. Sydney and Adrian both snapped to attention, looking right at her. Adrian just looked annoyed, but Sydney's face was that of abject horror. Rose could only assume it mirrored her own. She looked between the two of them, shaking her head. This just...couldn't...be...happening.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." she blurted out, unable to stop herself.

Sydney stepped back from Adrian, her face turning beet red. She took a step toward Rose.

"Rose, listen-"

Rose stumbled backward, putting her hands up in front of her. "I'm sorry," she said, her stomach churning as she tried to shake off the image of what she'd just witnessed. "I didn't mean to..." Didn't mean to what? A million thoughts raced through her head painfully. So many things started to click into place. Adrian's over protectiveness toward Sydney. The fact that Sydney only wanted Adrian to heal her. The way they bickered back and forth constantly, that wasn't just friendly banter...that was _flirting_. Oh God, oh God, how could she not have noticed all this? Lissa was right. He didn't think of her like a little sister at all. And that kiss...that didn't look like the first time they'd done that. Jesus, how long had this been going on? She put her hands on her temples, taking a deep breath, trying to focus.

"Tell me..." she said slowly, "That I didn't just see what I think I saw."

Adrian sighed heavily, grimacing. "So. This is awkward."

Sydney took another step toward Rose, a pleading look in her eyes. "Rose, please, just give me a second to explain."

"No, no. I can't..." Rose shook her head, backing away from the two of them. "I can't hear this. I can't...I can't even think this. I need a minute. I'm sorry." she turned away from them, hands shaking, and walked back toward the building.

Sydney's body reacted immediately, darting to catch up with Rose before she made it back inside, but Adrian's hand was on her shoulder, pulling her backwards.

"Let her go," was all he said.

"I can't!" Sydney yelped, panic swirling through her chest. "She saw...she saw us."

"Clearly," Adrian deadpanned.

"We have to find her," Sydney panted, "We have to explain-"

"Explain what?" Adrian snorted. "I think what she saw was pretty self-explanatory, Sage."

"Adrian, this is not funny!" anger shredded through Sydney's voice like sandpaper, "Not only is she obviously shocked and upset, she's also completely smashed. She could be in there yelling what she just saw at the top of her lungs, for all we know."

"What do you want me to do, Sage?" Adrian's tone was clipped now, "She saw us. It happened. Not much we can do short of turning back time."

Sydney took a few deep breaths, the realization of this hitting her like a gut punch. "Maybe when she wakes up tomorrow she won't remember..."

Adrian scoffed. "Yeah and maybe I'm not as good looking as I think I am. The chances are slim."

"I don't know how you can be so calm about this," Sydney shook her head. "Do you understand how not good this is?"

"Not really, no." he shrugged. "Do you really think we were hiding it all that well? Christian knows, obviously. I think Lissa does too. And Dimitri's been around us more than either of them. He's got to know. Sonya definitely knows, she can see auras, remember? So really-"

"Suspecting isn't the same as knowing!" Sydney shouted, cutting him off. "You can't prove anything on a hunch. This is different. Someone saw us_ kissing_. That's evidence."

Adrian scrunched up his face and when he spoke his voice was cold, "Why are you talking about us kissing like it's a damn crime? Jesus, Sydney." he shook his head. "This hot and cold act is really getting old."

"Because in my world, it is!" she shouted, her voice thick with emotion. "Keith got hauled off to re-education just for striking up a stupid business deal with a vampire. I almost did just for helping one. Do you even realize..." her voice broke, her vision was starting to blur as tears pooled in her eyes. "Do you even realize what would happen if they found out I kissed one? More than once? And liked it? Maybe they wouldn't even throw me in re-education..." she barked out a humorless, dark laugh. "Maybe they'd just kill me on sight and be done with me. I really wouldn't put it past them. So yes, forgive me if I'm a little freaked out over the face that apparently everyone and their guardian knows what's going on between us!"

She broke down, then. It was awful. She buried her face in her hands as hot, embarrassing tears ran down her cheeks. She sniffed loudly a few times, refusing to let a sob escape her mouth. She needed to hold on to at least a scrap of her dignity or she'd really lose it.

Adrian's arms were around her in an instant. His hands were warm and gentle on her back, stroking the length of her spine. She wanted to push him away but she didn't, couldn't really. Instead she just slumped against him, wordlessly, burying her face in his chest. Her arms fell limply to her sides.

"Shh," he whispered, one hand reaching up to cradle the back of her head. His touch was so comforting, so loving, it almost made her want to cry all the more because of it.

They stayed like that for a long moment. He held her tight, stroking her back in that hypnotically calming way. She took a deep, ragged breath, then attempted to push away from him. "I'm sorry," she blubbered, wiping furiously underneath her eyes. "I'm so embarrassed. I never cry in front of people."

He laughed softly, pulling her in close to him and squeezing. "Don't be embarrassed. Everyone cries at weddings."

She choked out a watery laugh, smiling, in spite of everything. "Shut up."

Adrian's hand slid up her back and across her neck. He gripped her chin lightly, tipping it up to face him. "You okay?"

She nodded weakly.

"You sure?" he asked, grinning wryly. "You can cry it all out, if you need to. I've got two shoulders with your name on them."

She sniffed, shaking her head. "Your charm really doesn't have an off button, does it?"

He chuckled, sighing dramatically, "It's a gift and a curse."

"I think I'm okay for now, " Sydney said in regard to his offer. "But thank you."

He brought both hands up to stroke her cheeks. Sydney frowned. "Oh no, my makeup...is my face totally wrecked?"

He rolled his eyes. "Makeup is still intact, well mostly." He gently rubbed at the tops of her cheekbones with his thumbs, assumingly wiping away any smudges. "Your face is far from wrecked, it takes more than a few tear streaks to mar this kind of perfection."

Sydney scoffed, "What perfection?"

"Have you ever even looked in a mirror?" he shook his head. "Speaking of things you haven't done, you wanna tell me what the hell this re-education is?"

"Not particularly," Sydney mumbled, wishing she had managed to leave that bit out of her mini emotional breakdown.

Adrian just stared at her, waiting for an explanation. She sighed.

"When the Alchemists feel that someone has gotten too close to a vampire, whether it be making a deal with one, befriending one, heck, maybe even just helping one cross the street, they get sent to a re-education center."

Adrian's expression darkened. "And what does it mean, exactly, to be "re-educated"?" he made air quotes with his fingers.

"I don't actually know, to be honest. It's not something that's openly talked about. But I can certainly guess." she shuddered, remembering seeing Keith in his babbling, incoherent state. "Brain-washing would be my best guess. People who I've seen come out of it are kind of...off. Robotic, almost. It's..."

"Fucked?" Adrian breathed, his eyes wide in disbelief.

Sydney twitched her mouth sideways. "That's one way to put it."

Adrian shook his head slowly, his handsome features twisted up in disgust. "Well, shit." he said finally.

"All that preaching you were doing," he continued, "going on and on about how we couldn't be together..." He looked into Sydney's eyes, and the raw ache in his voice broke her heart. "You weren't just saying that. We really..." he paused, blinking, "_can't_ be together."

Sydney didn't know what to say. She felt an unfamiliar pang in her chest. Of course she'd known all along that this was true, but seeing Adrian come to this realization was painful, to say the least. The hollow sadness in his eyes was like a knife in her stomach.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, uselessly.

Adrian just continued to blink his eyes, slowly, processing all this. After a few moments, his face transformed, the sadness disappearing and a thin smile spreading across his lips. "Well, we still have the rest of tonight."

Sydney raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You promised me the night, remember?" his smile broadened as he spoke. "So we can't be together. Okay. I accept that. I don't want you risking them screwing with your mind for me. Your mind is my favorite thing about you."

Sydney blushed. It was ridiculous, but hearing him say that was almost more flattering than being called beautiful.

He moved toward her, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her up against him. "Tomorrow, and every day after that, I won't bother you about how I feel. I won't flirt with you," he paused, furrowing his brow. "Well...I'll try my best not to flirt with you. I won't even ever bring any of this up ever again. Whatever I have to do to ensure your safety, that's my priority."

That unfamiliar pang twitched at her heart again. This was good news. This was what she'd wanted to hear him say ever since the first forbidden kiss they'd shared. But to her surprise, it didn't feel good. It _hurt_.

"But tonight," he breathed, bringing his lips directly up against her ear. She shivered at the contact. "Tonight's a different story."

"Adrian," she said, for no particular reason.

"Is that okay with you?" he drew back so he could look into her eyes.

She sighed. "What exactly are you proposing?"

"I think you know," he smirked.

"Unfortunately, I think I do too." she shook her head, "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Of course it's not a good idea!" he laughed, swaying their bodies back and forth playfully.

Sydney couldn't help but laugh, even though there was really nothing funny about the situation they were in. She sobered almost immediately after, recalling everything that just transpired. "Adrian." she said, seriously. "We really need to find Rose."

"Don't give yourself a hernia," he chuckled. "She was freaked out, but I think it was just the shock of the unexpected more than anything else."

Sydney frowned. "You weren't with her when we stayed with the Keepers. She was disgusted by them. Maybe even more so than I was."

"Alright," he sighed, "Let's go talk to her. This is going to be awkward as hell."

* * *

Rose stumbled back into the building in a daze, her brain still short circuiting trying to process everything she'd just seen. She was greeted almost immediately by a very concerned looking Dimitri.

"Rose, where have you been?" his voice was tight. "We were all getting worried."

"I..." she looked up into his eyes, blinking. "I just...went outside and...I saw...them."

"Them?" Dimitri asked, perplexed.

She took a deep breath, finding it hard to even speak what she'd seen. "Adrian...and...Sydney..."

Dimitri sighed heavily. "Roza-"

"You found her!" Lissa's voice, drenched in relief, cut through the crowd. She and Christian sidled up beside her, all eye rolls and smiles. "Thank God. I was afraid you'd passed out somewhere."

"They were kissing!" Rose blurted out, her voice shrill and uncontrolled. A few people nearby turned and shot her quizzical looks, as Dimitri shh'ed her gently.

"Who was kissing?" Christian smirked.

"Adrian. was kissing. Sydney," Rose said slowly, unwillingly replaying the scene in her mind. "Sydney. was. kissing. Adrian."

Lissa groaned, "Rose. I told you to leave them alone."

"It's not like I was trying to interrupt their little forbidden make-out session!" Rose sputtered, "I was just going outside for some air, and there they both were, playing tonsil-hockey for the whole world to see!"

Christian scrunched up his face. "Ugh. Didn't need the visual."

"Yeah, well, neither did I!" Rose hissed. "What the hell? I mean...what the HELL?"

"I told you," Lissa sighed, shaking her head smugly. "I told you they were more than friends."

"You mean, you didn't know?" Christian asked, widening his gaze at her. "Oh, shit. I thought everyone knew."

"You knew too?" she gaped at Christian, "What about you?" she turned to face Dimitri. He winced.

"I...had my suspicions." he said after a moment, "They were more or less inseparable for a time when I was in Palm Springs. Once I even though Adrian was going to punch me just because I was a little pushy asking Sydney for something." he smiled, as if it were an amusing memory.

Rose stared at her boyfriend and friends. "And none of you thought to tell me that this sordid love affair was going on? No one thought I'd like to be in the know?"

"I did tell you," Lissa rolled her eyes. "You just didn't want to see it."

"I wasn't even sure, myself." Dimitri shrugged.

"I kind of figured it out when Adrian explicitly told me to commit manslaughter if anyone touched her." Christian grinned. "And I mean, just look at them. It's kind of obvious. They're always bantering back and forth, stealing glances at each other...it's like textbook forbidden romance. It's cute."

"Cute?" Rose's eyes almost bugged out of her head. "_CUTE_?!"

"Rose," Lissa said, "Try not to scream, we are in public."

"I don't think you people understand the gravity of this situation. A Moroi and a human? Not just any human...an Alchemist human? I mean...what is...I don't even..." she clutched her head as her thoughts spun.

"Not just any Moroi," Lissa said gently. "It's Adrian. Our friend."

"Sydney's our friend too," Christian said, his voice laced with slight offense.

"Of course," Lissa agreed. "Which is why we should-"

Lissa cut herself off quickly, clearing her throat and looking away as Adrian and Sydney tentatively approached the group.

A painful silence blanketed them. After a long moment, Adrian was the first to speak. "Alright. Let's just get this over with. Rose, I know what you saw must have been shocking-"

Rose scoffed. "That's an understatement. And you, stop talking." she jerked her gaze to her tiny, blonde friend. "I want to hear this from Sydney."

Sydney blanched. "I don't know what to say Rose. I'm sorry you had to...see what you saw." Rose noticed that her hands were shaking as was her voice. She was nervous, embarrassed almost even a little scared. Rose suddenly felt a little...bad.

Adrian put his hand on Sydney's shoulder in a gesture of comfort. Christian's words flashed in Rose's mind. If this had been a completely different situation, she had to admit, that would have been cute.

"I know it must have been very...er...unexpected, for you to see Adrian and me..." she blushed deeper, as if she was searching for an appropriate word, "together. But, you see, well..." Sydney trailed off again, taking a shaky breath, "It wasn't what you think."

Rose cocked an eyebrow."Really."

"Yes," Sydney said nodding her head. "It's not..." she looked up at Adrian, swallowing nervously, "We're not..._together_, together. We just..."

"Fall on each other's mouths from time to time," Adrian supplied, with a smirk. "It's terribly inconvenient." He rubbed Sydney's shoulder affectionately. "I can take it from here. Hathway," he turned to Rose. "Let's have a little chat. In private."

He linked his arm with hers, turning away from the group. "Christian," he called over his shoulder, "You know your orders."

"Aye, aye!" Christian saluted with a grin.

Adrian walked Rose over to a nearby couch where no one was sitting. "Ladies first," he gestured for her to sit down.

Rose did so reluctantly, crossing her arms. "Adrian, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Well I thought we could have a long over-do heart to heart," he gave her an exaggerated offended expression.

She rolled her eyes. "I mean, with Sydney." she gave him a hard look. "Last time I saw her she was this quiet, conservative little mouse of a girl. She was fiercely devoted to the Alchemists. She could barely even stomach being alone with _me_." she narrowed her eyes. "What have you done?"

Adrian scoffed. "Are you implying I've corrupted her?" his voice was clearly amused.

"She's really innocent!" Rose exclaimed, "I don't even think she's ever had a boyfriend."

Adrian grinned, "She did have a boyfriend for awhile, back in Palm Springs. In the end, he was no match for me, of course."

Rose shook her head. "Exactly what I mean. You bat your pretty green eyes in her direction, lay all those compliments on her she's not used to getting, of course she's going to fall for it. But this is serious, Adrian. You can't treat this like some run of the mill conquest. Isn't there like..some freaky Alchemist prison she can get sent to?"

"So I've been told," Adrian said, and his voice was surprisingly serious. "And for the record, she's actually been even harder to win over than you were. Not that I'm trying to "win her over" he cringed at the phrase, "She's more to me than just some girl I can't have. She's..." he paused, his eyes went slightly unfocused, and when he spoke again his voice took on a dreamy sort of quality, "She's incredible. I mean, I guess you know that, you know her. But she's so...smart, and driven...she doesn't ever just half-ass her way through things, you know? And she's always thinks of everyone else, putting everyone else's needs before her own. It's infuriating sometimes, because she doesn't really ever think about herself, and that pisses me off to no end, because I just want her to be happy, you know? She's done so much for me, Rose...you can't even begin to understand. When I'm with her it's like...everything just makes sense. You know I've pretty much stopped smoking?" he raised his eyebrows at her. "She didn't ask me to, if that's what you're wondering. I just did it. Because I wanted to. I knew it would make her proud, but still...I did it for me too. I've been doing a lot of things for me, good things, and it's all because of her..." he broke off suddenly, shaking his head. "Sorry. Didn't mean to ramble."

Rose just looked at him curiously, she suddenly didn't recognize the man sitting in front of her. "You've changed."

He gave a slow, uncertain nod. "I guess so, yeah."

She shook her head, sighing. "You're really serious about this? About her?"

This time there was nothing uncertain about his answer. "Of course I am. I know everyone thinks I can't be serious-"

"I don't think that," Rose started to say, but Adrian just barreled on.

"It's fine," he said, "I guess I haven't given anyone much reason to, up until now. You know," he cast her a sideways glance. "I didn't get it, back then. You and Belikov. I really didn't. When you went all Rambo trying to track him down. I mean, I respected your decision to do that, and I tried my best to understand, but it didn't make sense to me. To be perfectly honest, deep down I thought the whole thing was a bit overdramatic and selfish."

Rose huffed. "Maybe it was, but I was doing what I had to do. You don't understand-"

"No, that's the thing." Adrian said, nodding his head vehemently, "I do understand. Now, at least." his expression turned dark unexpectedly and his voice dropped an octave. "If something like that happened to Sydney...if someone took her from me like that, everything else would just...cease to matter. I would do anything and everything in my power to get her back." he looked into Rose's eyes intently, "And you can be sure as hell I wouldn't hesitate to take the whole world down with me."

"Jesus," Rose blinked. " You really do love her."

"I really do," Adrian smiled. "She balances me out."

Rose smiled back at that. "Well," she breathed after a moment, "I'm still sort of trying to process all of this, but I'm sorry for the way I reacted. I just never thought..." she shook her head. "Never mind. Doesn't really matter what I think, does it?"

"What you think will always matter to me," Adrian nudged her gently. "We're friends, right?"

"Right." Rose nodded, and wrapped her arms around Adrian in a tight hug. "I've missed you, you know."

"I have that effect on people." he replied, returning her embrace.

"There's the Adrian I know," she pulled back, smiling. "Guess you haven't changed that much."

He shook his head. "Nah, just found someone who brings out the best in me."

"Well let's get back to her, then." Rose laughed, "Before you spiral into a deep depression."

When they approached the group, Sydney was engaged in what looked like an intense conversation with Christian. He was nodding as he listened to what ever she was saying, his brows furrowed with concern. Sydney was just winning over all the boys these days, it seemed. Rose smiled, but as they closed in she realized Sydney's expression was dark and troubled, and Christian put a fraternal hand on her shoulder as it looked like tears were forming in her eyes.

"Whoa," Rose said, looking back and forth between the two of them. "What's going on?"

When Sydney turned and noticed her presence, her expression was pleading. "Please, don't say anything to anyone." The fear was clear in Sydney's voice. "I'm asking you as my friend not to. None of you can," she looked around the group. "You won't, right? If this gets out, it won't just be a slap on the wrist from my superiors. I'm afraid the consequences are much worse than that." An awful sinking feeling settled in Rose's chest. That's why Sydney was so freaked. She thought Rose was going to narc on her. It wasn't surprising, considering the way Rose had reacted, but as much as she was shocked and still kind of grossed out by all this, she'd never do that to Sydney.

"My lips are sealed," Lissa nodded, giving Sydney a soft smile.

"Ditto," Christian nodded, "No way I'm gonna rat out my black sheep buddy." Sydney smiled weakly at him.

Dimitri gave Adrian a knowing smile. "I've kept quiet for this long."

Rose sighed. "Sydney, I would never, ever do that." she frowned. "I'm sorry for the way I reacted before, I was just so shocked...well, there's no excuse for acting like that. You're my friend, above everything else. And friends support each other no matter what." Sydney's face blossomed into a relieved smile.

"Thank you," she said, as Adrian returned to his post beside her.

She gave them a rueful smile. "But you two do realize that the rest of the world isn't going to be as accepting of this, right?"

"It's a notion that's been tossed around," Adrian replied dryly.

"Seriously." Rose said, lowering her voice. "Not only is Sydney in danger from the Alchemists, but can you imagine the uproar it would cause for _you_?" she looked at Adrian, "You're an Ivashkov, for crying out loud. What are you going to do? Take her home to your parents? Hey mom and dad remember when I was dating a dhampir and brought shame upon the family? Well, good news! Now I'm with a human, and to top it all off, she's an Alchemist! Isn't that swell?"

Sydney made an affronted noise, and Rose shot her an apologetic look. "No offense, but you don't know Adrian's dad..."

"She does, actually." Adrian sighed, "Unfortunately."

"We had lunch, once," Sydney explained, frowning. "It went...moderately...bad."

"Well, hey. That's better than any encounter I've ever had with him." Rose snorted, "Maybe you crazy kids have a shot, after all."

Sydney smiled momentarily, then frowned. "I think we both know the consequences of what a relationship between us would bring. And we've decided.." she looked up at Adrian, giving his hand a squeeze, "that we're not going to risk it."

"Well." Rose said, surprised at how much that bothered her. "That's depressing."

"You could always just keep it a secret." Christian suggested, earning him a hard glance from everyone.

"What?" he asked. "Just laying out all your options. I like you guys together. You're like a power couple." he twisted up his face, in thought. "Adri-ney." he said, then shook his head. "No that sucks. Uh..Sydney...drian...Syd..rian...Sydrian!" He beamed, like he was proud of himself.

Adrian nodded, "I like the sound of that. It rolls of the tongue, don't you think?"

"Totally," Christian smiled. "If word ever gets out about you guys, not that I want it to-" he shot Sydney a serious glance, "But we could like, get protest shirts made. Free Sydrian!"

Adrian's eyes danced with amusement. "Perfect. We can wear them when we bust Sydney out of re-education."

"Re-education isn't a joke." Sydney mumbled, frowning at them.

"Does it look like I'm joking?" Christian asked, "I will riot in the streets for your love. I've always wanted to start a riot. Maybe it's a pyromaniac thing." he shrugged.

"I think is this start of something beautiful, Ozera." Adrian said, smiling widely at Christian. "And thank you, by the way, for taking out the creep who was messing with Sydney."

"No problem, it was my pleasure." and then they actually bumped their fists together.

"You two wanna be alone?" Lissa asked, raising her eyebrows.

Everyone laughed, and suddenly it felt like they were just a normal group of friends, all paired off respectively, and it was a really amazing feeling.

The lights dimmed, then, and a voice echoed throughout the building. "Alright, folks. Last song of the evening, so grab your partner if you got one and hold on tight." A familiar slow, love song began to play.

"I love this song!" Lissa squeaked, grabbing Christian's hand and dragging him to the dance floor.

"Roza?" Dimitri asked softly, giving her a look that made her heart flip in her chest. He extended his hand and she took it, letting him lead her in the same direction.

* * *

"I don't even know this song," Sydney whispered to Adrian, fidgeting with her hands.

"It's a classic," Adrian told her, "We're going to have to work on your lack of pop culture knowledge, Sage."

"I hope you and Christian were just joking," she said, giving him a serious look. "You know we can't...well...you know."

Adrian nodded. "I know. But, that's all for tomorrow, isn't it?" His voice was like honey. "Dance with me."

She blushed, every cell in her body aching to take his hand and press her body close against his. She had to look away. "People can see us."

"Oh, come on." he sighed. "It's one dance. At a wedding. You have to dance at a wedding. We don't even have to go to the dance floor. Dance with me, right here."

She took his hand reluctantly. They were in a darker, more secluded part of the building. And she _had_ promised him tonight. And it was just one dance. She took a deep breath and stepped closer to him. He wrapped his other hand around her waist and she let hers rest on his shoulder.

"This isn't so bad, is it?" he whispered to her as their bodies began to sway.

"No," Sydney breathed, closing her eyes and letting her head fall against his chest. She listened to the steady thumping of his heart, counting in her head the beats per minute. She didn't know why, but in that moment she wanted to memorize everything. The song that was playing, the way the air smelled, the exact pressure of his body against hers. She knew when she was old and withered and probably married to some boring, straight-laced God-fearing Alchemist, that she'd look back on this moment, unable to stop herself, and remember that this was the first time she felt truly happy. She sighed, pressing even closer to Adrian, breathing him in. The smell of him was intoxicating as it washed over her. The deep, woody scent of his cologne mixed with his body's natural masculine scent. The only thing that was missing was the unmistakable aroma of clove cigarettes. She remembered he'd told her how long it had been since he'd had one. She looked up at him, smiling. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the smell of cigarettes on you."

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't look now, but I think Hell just froze over."

"It's just because it was how you've always smelled, it's familiar to me." she shrugged, blushing. "That's stupid."

"No, it's not." he murmured, lips pressed against her ear. "You want me to start back up again?"

"No!" she shook her head. "Of course not."

"I can just rub them all over my body, if that will make you happy." he smirked. "I knew you had a kinky side."

She giggled, letting her head fall back against his shoulder. Too soon, the song was over, and they had to break away from each other quickly before the lights flickered back to full brightness. People were hugging and goodbying and stumbling toward the exit.

She looked up at him, biting her lip. He really was just unreasonably handsome.

"What are you thinking?" he asked quietly, "Right now?"

She looked away, blushing. "I want you to kiss me again." she whispered, surprising herself with her own honesty.

He smiled. "Oh, I will. Not right now, of course. But before the night is over, I'm going to kiss you."

"Isn't the night over, technically?" she asked. "I have to go back to the hotel now."

"If I recall," he said with a sly smile, "We're staying at the same hotel."

She scoffed. "If you think you're getting a room invitation, you're sorely mistaken."

"Fine," He pouted. "Then I guess we'll have to get frisky in the elevator."

She actually considered this, then shook her head. "They have cameras in elevators."

"Then where am I going to kiss you?" he asked way too loudly.

"Shh!" Sydney hissed, eyes wide. "I don't know...we'll think of something."

"What are we thinking of? Radical T shirt designs?" Sydney turned to find Christian and Lissa approaching, followed by Rose and Dimitri.

Adrian smiled. "Yeah, I'm thinking of a bloody heart with an arrow through it. And the arrow should be on fire. No, the heart should be on fire. No, both the heart and the arrow...on fire."

Christian laughed, nodding his head in adamant concurrence. "That is so punk rock."

Lissa rolled her eyes at them, then turned to Sydney. "When we get back to the hotel, we were all going to hang out in my suite for awhile. There's a mini-bar and food or whatever, if you're hungry. It'll be fun. You guys in?"

"You had me at mini-bar," Adrian sighed. He turned to Sydney. "Yes?"

Sydney knew she shouldn't accept the invitation. As much as she wanted to spend more time with her friends, and with Adrian, the responsible thing to do would be to politely decline and spend the rest of her night repenting for all the sins she committed in one evening. Unexpectedly, her mind flitted back to when Brayden broke up with her. His parting words were that he just couldn't be with someone as irresponsible as she was. The memory still made her laugh. But maybe there was some truth in it, after all. And maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

She smiled, taking a deep breath. "I'm in."


	5. Ch 5 - Here's To The Night pt 2

**A/N: First of all I just want to say thank you so so so so so SO much to everyone who has reviewed this story your feedback means so much to me I just can't even **

**Second of all: To spaztronaut, that's bananay! I'd love for you to post it somewhere so I could read it and feel the roseception! (and thank you for the lovely review btw it means so much as I adore your writings as well!)**

**To greeneyes, dskjfhlsdfkjgshfkjdhkjghkjfh what is with all this psychic connection right now? It's so weird that you say that because I swear I already had something sort of similar planned, as you will *kind of* see in upcoming chapters**

**Third of all: I want to apologize in advance for this chapter because this story is meant to be fluffy and light-hearted (or at least it wAS i don't know what happened but there is quite an angsty piece here and I hope no one is too upset by it, I PROMISE this isn't the end, obvs, and the ending will be so fluffy it will *hopefully* make up for this one. I swear on everything this story is almost over, I feel bad like I'm dragging it out too much but I just had a really distinct idea in my head and it's gonna kill me if I don't get it all out. Literally there's only going to be two more chapters tops, if that. Okay that's all.**

* * *

"No no, let me tell this part!" Lissa yelled over Adrian as she, Christian, Rose, Dimitri, and Sydney were all scattered around the floor of Lissa's enormous suite. They'd been like this for hours, trading stories and drinking. Ties had been flung carelessly about the room, and Sydney sat sprawled in Adrian's lap, hugging his suit jacket around her like a baby blanket. One of his hands was wrapped around her waist, one was clutched lazily around the neck of a half empty wine bottle that he was drinking by himself. Sydney was still tentatively sipping on her second glass of champagne.

It was all so surreal to Sydney. This time last year she didn't even have any friends around her age, or any friends at all, really. She had always prided herself on her independence but there were so many nights she spent sitting alone in her room, wondering what it would be like to be a like a normal girl her age. A girl with friends, a girl who went out with said friends and had fun. A girl who people didn't automatically write off at the boring, stuck up, know it all. She knew that was how she came across to most people, but there wasn't much she could do about it. It wasn't as if there were many opportunities to make friends during her time she was home-schooled, and even if there had been, it wasn't as if she could have made lasting relationships with them. In the end she'd always known she'd have to commit herself completely to the Alchemists, and that was her lot in life. Besides, she liked herself the way she was...well, for the most part, anyway. She didn't want to have to dumb herself down or pretend to not like the things she did just to get people to like her. She'd take loneliness over compromising herself any day.

But here she was now, in a room full of people who seemed to like her the way she was, with a handsome boy's warm arm wrapped around her waist, holding her like she was something special. It was unnervingly ironic that the first people in her life to treat her like she was a real person, not just an expendable cog in a machine, were a gang of "evil creatures of the night". If past Sydney could see herself now, she'd probably go into cardiac arrest on the spot. Fraternizing with vampires? Drinking alcohol? _Laughing_? The horror! But right now all Sydney could think of was the overwhelming sense of feeling like she belonged.

"Sydney...Sydney, are you listening?!" Lissa's voice broke through her thoughts. Sydney snapped to attention, nodding her head. "I'm listening."

"Okay so anyway," Lissa continued animatedly, "it turns out she was like...totally crazy-"

"And not like, hey I just met you here's my number crazy.." Adrian cut her off, looking down at Sydney seriously, "like actual homicidal I'm going to skin you and make coat out of it crazy."

"I'm telling the story!" Lissa yelled, banging her hand on the ground. "Anyway, she used to get me drunk on purpose and then act like she was the one telling me not to! And she was all over Adrian like all the time, don't worry-" she broke off mid sentence, touching Sydney on the arm, gazing at her in earnest. "You're like, way prettier than her. And you're not crazy and trying to kill me. So I like you better."

"I'm glad," Sydney laughed, though she was having trouble keeping up with the story she and Adrian has been shouting back and forth at her for the past 10 minutes.

"This is a dumb story," Adrian drawled, tipping the wine bottle to his lips and taking a long swig.

"I know but the end is the best part, when we beat her up, remember?"

Sydney's eyes widened. "You beat her up?"

"She was like, trying to kill me! Like literally!" Lissa yelled, "Ask Rose! Rose, you tell the rest."

Rose downed the rest of her drink, smiling wickedly. "I have a better story."

"By all means, let's hear it." Adrian tipped the wine bottle toward her.

Lissa pouted. "But I didn't get to finish my story."

"Well, my story is _really _good," Rose said, raising her eyebrows like she had a juicy secret, "and it's about Sydney."

"Oooooh," Christian said, smirking. "Now I'm interested."

"Well," Rose sighed dramatically, "Actually never mind. I shouldn't...I don't want to embarrass her."

"Tell it, tell it!" Lissa chanted, her face lighting up.

"You're bluffing," Sydney scoffed, not sure what Rose could be referring to. "What could you possibly have on me?"

"Oh I am so not bluffing," Rose laughed. "I'm sure you remember a little conversation we had awhile back...via webcam?"

Sydney's eyebrows knitted together in concentration. She remembered contacting Rose through video chat, yes. And she remembered it had been about the missing Alchemist files that she thought Rose might have stolen...what about that was embarrassing? All they'd talked about was the files, and Lissa, briefly, and Rose's trip to Vegas...

Realization hit Sydney like a freight train. Her eyes widened and she couldn't stop herself from leaning forward, lifting off Adrian's lap to grab Rose's arm. "No!" she squeaked. "Don't!"

"Yes!" Rose laughed, "I knew you'd know what I was talking about."

"Hey, come back." Adrian said, taking Sydney by the shoulders and gently pulling her back onto his lap, wrapping both arms around her. "I'll protect you from the scary story."

Sydney felt her face flush. "Rose, seriously!"

"You're among friends!" Christian exclaimed, "We won't judge you."

Even Dimitri seemed keen on hearing what Rose had to say, smiling quietly next to her.

"If I can deal with everyone hearing about the time I peed on myself in third grade then you can deal with this," Rose sighed. "Okay, so, awhile back, like forever ago, it wasn't too long after we got back from Vegas, I think... Sydney contacted me about these missing Alchemist records or whatever. Some records get stolen and who does she contact first throwing around accusations? Me." Rose paused for dramatic effect, earning laughs from everyone except Sydney, who knew exactly where this story was headed.

"So anyway, I'm like, I didn't steal your stupid records. And she's all, I won't tell on you if you did, and then I was like OMG I seriously didn't steal them!" More laughs from the group. Sydney bit her lip anxiously.

"So anyway, blah blah blah we're talking back and forth about the records and she mentioned something about Las Vegas," Sydney wondered if Rose was skimming that part of the story because it involved Lissa's father, or because she was just that eager to humiliate her, "And I'm like hey, I was just in Vegas. And then Sydney was like, I know I saw some footage of you from a surveillance camera-" Rose broke mid sentence to laugh.

"This is not happening," Sydney grumbled, covering her face with her hands.

Rose doubled over, taking in large gasps of air, "I can't breathe, this is the best part."

"I'm on the edge of my seat over here!" Adrian yelled, squeezing his arms around Sydney.

"Okay!" Rose took a deep breath, composing herself. "Okay. So she's like, that tall dark-haired Moroi that was with you, is that your boyfriend? Meaning you," Rose said, looking toward Adrian.

"Thanks, I got it." Adrian rolled his eyes.

"Please stop talking." Sydney begged, head still in her hands.

"And I'm like yeah whatever why do you ask? And then Sydney said..." Rose paused, then mimicked a fake high-pitched wistful voice, "_He's cute_."

Lissa squealed like a pre-teen at a sleep over, then clamped her hand over mouth. Christian and Dimitri gave dramatic "awww" sounds. Sydney thought she was going to pass out from embarrassment.

"I did not say it like that!" she squeaked.

"You're right," Rose nodded. "It was much more breathy and aroused sounding than that."

"Oh my God," Sydney moaned, "Shut. Up."

She felt Adrian's arms tighten around her. His face buried in the crook of her neck. He planted a small kiss there, so tiny she could barely feel it, but it still sent shockwaves throughout her entire body.

"That's so sweet," Lissa sighed, falling against Christian's shoulder.

"All that time we were on the run, I thought Sydney was helping me out of the goodness of her little Alchemist heart," Rose feigned a sad voice, jutting her bottom lip out in an exaggerated fashion. "When really she was just using me to get to Adrian the whole time!"

"I told you she's brilliant," Adrian said, laughing.

"You guys are the worst!" Sydney moaned, her face still hot.

"You love us," Rose cooed, "And we love you!" She moved forward to wrap Sydney in a hug, but since Sydney was in Adrian's lap it was all elbows and awkward, and then Sydney felt herself falling backward, sandwiched with Adrian underneath her and Rose on top of her.

"Well this night just took a sexy turn." Adrian purred, earning sounds of disgust from everyone in the room.

Rose rolled off of her and lifted her arms up, laughing. "Dimitri...help."

Dimitri was over Rose in seconds, scooping her up off the floor and holding her upright. "Thank you," she mumbled against him. Sydney scooted away from Adrian with as much grace as she could manage, replacing herself in a seated position on the floor next to him. He remained laying down, propping himself up on one elbow and smiling crookedly at her. Her stomach flipped unexpectedly. She wanted to kiss him, right then. If they hadn't been in a room full of other people, she probably would have. She smiled back briefly and looked away. She was scaring herself.

"You tell us a story, Sydney." Lissa prompted, smiling.

"I don't really have any good stories," Sydney shrugged, "I'm pretty boring."

"No, you're not," she heard Adrian say, behind her. "Tell them about the time you rescued me from that Strigoi bitch at the apartment." his voice was low and casual, like he was describing a droll afternoon picnic.

"You mentioned that in the bathroom before the wedding," Rose said, cocking her head to the side. She'd been nestled against Dimitri but now she was upright and alert. "I need to hear about this."

"It was hardly a rescue," Sydney blushed, not wanting to go into detail.

"If you hadn't done it, she would have sucked me dry." Adrian scoffed, "I'd say that's a rescue if I ever had one."

"What did you do?" Rose leaned forward intently.

"I just distracted the Strigoi who was drinking from Adrian by throwing this...thing...at other one..." Sydney shrugged, she didn't really want to relive this event. Especially the part about what she'd actually done to cause a distraction. The whole thing still unsettled her, and reminded her of what she was supposed to be doing for Ms. Terwilliger.

"Caught her head on fire," Adrian beamed with pride.

The response from the group was a resounding "_what?_" Christian, not surprisingly, looked especially awed.

"What did you throw at her, a firecracker?" Rose snorted.

Sydney gritted her teeth. "No. It was this...er...concoction...of sorts..."

"Oh," Rose nodded, "Like that stuff you poured on the bodies that made them dissolve?"

Oh, thank God. Sydney hoped she sounded convincing as she nodded along with Rose, "Yeah. Like that. It was something I made myself, though. I had no idea if it would actually work. I just knew that neither of us had a chance anyway so I might as well exhaust any possible resources I had."

"So you acted on blind impulse in a life or death situation?" Rose pursed her lips. "That's _my_ thing."

Everyone laughed, including Sydney. She was worried Adrian was going to bring up Ms. Terwilliger and Sydney's recent dabbles in spell casting but thankfully, he didn't.

"I suppose the three of us certainly have a type," Dimitri said, smiling at Adrian and Christian. "Strong women."

Sydney's face reddened, completely thrown off by his words. She didn't really consider herself strong. Well, not in the way people like he and Rose were, at least. Compared to them she was nothing.

"Damn straight," Christian nodded, throwing his arm around Lissa and squeezing her. She scrunched up her face in an exaggerated tough looking manner, then laughed and kissed him. Sydney couldn't help but smile, they were really adorable.

The night passed on easily, and quickly, a little too quickly for Sydney. She was enjoying herself. She liked this unfamiliar feeling of belonging, and she wasn't really ready for it to end. But all good things did. Sydney hadn't had anything more after her second glass of champagne, even Adrian slowed down on the wine, but Rose and Lissa drank themselves silly and sleepy. Dimitri actually had to put Rose's shoes back on for her, which was a hilarious thing to witness.

"It's been a wonderful evening," he said as he began collecting their things, all the while holding onto Rose with one arm. "thank you for inviting us over, Vasilisa."

Lissa was half asleep herself, snuggled against Christian, who nodded at Dimitri. "Thanks guys, have a good night."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rose exclaimed, untangling herself from Dimitri and crawling back over to where Adrian and Sydney were sitting. She looked Adrian dead in the eyes. "Listen here, Ivashkov. I'm really glad we're friends again, but If you ever do anything to hurt Sydney, I will hunt you down and re-arrange that pretty little face of yours. Got it?"

Sydney snorted. Drunk people were really something else. Still, she felt a stinging ripple of emotion for Rose being protective. Sydney was usually the one sticking up for her sisters, and -more recently- for Jill. It was nice to know someone had her back as well.

"I love you too, Rose." Adrian smiled as Dimitri was pulling her back into his arms again.

"I'm serious!" she called over his shoulder as he lead her to the doorway.

"I believe you!" Adrian called back, laughing.

"Goodnight, everyone." Dimitri gave them all a swift nod before they made their exit.

"I think it might be bed time for us as well," Christian yawned after a moment. "I think Lissa's already in dreamland."

"Hmm what?" she fluttered her eyelids open, her gaze falling on Sydney and Adrian. "Oh, you guys are still here...you can crash if you want. The couch folds out into a bed." she fell back against Christian.

"I should get her into bed," he said, cradling her like an infant as he stood. "But you guys can definitely stay and chill or..." he smirked, "whatever."

Adrian tipped his head graciously in Christian's direction.

When they were alone, he turned to Sydney, looking at her in a way that made her heart stutter.

He shifted closer to her, tilting his head down to hers. "Hi," he whispered.

"Hi," she whispered back, all at once feeling incredibly anxious.

"This whole time," he brought a hand up to her face, gently stroking the lily on her cheek. "all I've been thinking about is when I'd get to kiss you again."

She leaned demurely away from him, his words unraveling her, because of course, she'd been doing the exact same thing. Not that she'd admit that to him. She had a hard enough time admitting it to herself.

"You know," he said softly, sliding his arm around her and pulling her close against him, "When I first met you, I thought you were cute too."

Sydney scoffed loudly at that, shaking her head. "You did not."

"I did so," he argued, smiling.

"You weren't even paying attention to me," Sydney said, "You were a little preoccupied, rightfully so. Your girlfriend was the number one suspect in a murder case."

Adrian raised an eyebrow, "Even in times of extreme turmoil, Adrian Ivashkov never fails to notice a pretty girl."

She rolled her eyes. "You're too much." She leaned into him, letting her head nuzzle against his shoulder. The night was winding down now. She felt like a princess who'd gotten her magical evening, and when the clock struck midnight the spell would truly be broken.

"I'm not saying I wanted to ravish you back then, or anything." Adrian chuckled, "I was still hung up on Rose, obviously. Plus, I knew you were an Alchemist. The thought never even entered my mind."

"I bet you say that to all the girls," Sydney murmured, sarcastically.

He laughed, but every time he spoke his tone went quieter, gentler, it almost has a hypnotizing quality to it. "You want to know when I first knew?" he asked.

"Knew what?"

"That I wanted you."

Sydney shivered involuntarily against him. "I think I can guess," she whispered.

"Probably," he murmured back, his fingers drawing abstract patterns on her bare arm. "I think it's pretty obvious."

"The night of the dance, right?" she looked up at him, smiling.

He looked down at her, a smile on his lips. "No!" he said, scoffing. "Are you kidding me? It was way before then."

Sydney blinked up at him. "Really?"

He laughed. "Sage, I knew you were oblivious but I didn't know you were _that_ bad."

"Well, when was it, then?" she asked, wondering what other moment could have possibly been The One.

"When you came to my apartment, not long after the whole ordeal with Lee and the Strigoi," his expression turned sour as he mentioned them, but then softened as he continued to speak, "You remember, don't you? When I saw your eyes in the light."

Sydney raised her eyebrows in shock. "_Then?_ That was the moment you realized you were in love with me?"

"Not _in love_," he corrected, rolling his eyes. "That happened gradually. I'm just saying it was in that moment that I realized how special you were. I know it sounds cliche but it was really as if lightning came down and struck my brain. Everything about you fell into place, and I was just like, this girl is one of the most incredible people I've ever met. I was attracted you. Hell, I was so caught up in the moment if Abe and Angeline hadn't shown up right then, I probably would have tried to kiss you."

Sydney sputtered, "I wouldn't have handled it well."

"Yeah," Adrian sighed. "which is why I'm glad I waited until the perfect moment, because you handled that stunningly."

Sydney bristled, "You just surprised me. I had no idea you had feelings for me at all. I wasn't ready."

"I know," he said gently, reaching up to cup her face. "Are you ready now?"

She exhaled shakily. She'd been waiting for this moment ever since they left the reception. Truthfully, ever since the moment his lips had left hers the first time. The need to have him close, to have his lips on hers, was overpowering. She didn't answer his question with words, but with her mouth pressing firmly up against his. He leaned into the kiss, his hand sliding to the back of her head, pulling her closer still. Her hands found their way into his hair, tugging on it softly as their kiss intensified. His mouth was so warm and strong against hers. The sensation was dizzying. She opened her mouth wide enough for Adrian's tongue to find its way inside. She never understood why people kissed that way, it seemed unnecessary and gross, but the way Adrian was sliding his his tongue expertly in and out of her mouth was, thrilling, to say the least. His hands slid down her arms, making her shiver. Her hands moved from his hair to cradle his neck, one hand even lowering further to wrap tightly around his shoulder. His hands were at her hips, pulling her against him. She sighed into his mouth, losing herself in the sensation of his lips and his hands and his body pressed close.

They kissed for a long time. _A long time._ When they finally pulled apart from each other, Sydney could already tell her lips would be swollen and bruised by morning. She didn't care, in fact, she liked the way it felt. She didn't want the kiss to be over, because she knew it would be their last. In the morning, everything had to go back to the way it was before. There'd be no more kissing, no more cuddling close like this, no more fun nights out with his group of friends. She closed her eyes, trying to hold on to the moment for just a little longer.

"You know," Adrian's voice was hoarse as it broke her out of reverie, "It really wouldn't be that hard...to keep this a secret."

Sydney's eyes flew open. "What?"

"We used to hang out all the time, people are used to seeing us around each other. It wouldn't really be that suspicious. Jill knows, obviously that can't be helped, but we don't have to tell Eddie or anyone else," he shrugged. "I have my car. We can drive a few towns away to go on dates, do romantic stuff. People wouldn't recognize us. And there's always spirit dreams-"

"Adrian." Sydney said, pushing away from him. "Listen to yourself."

He just stared at her, "What?"

"We can't...do that." she said, slowly. "What happened to you being understanding of that? Did you forget everything I told you about re-education?"

"No, of course not." he said.

"Then why are you even entertaining the idea of us being in a relationship?"

He looked hurt. "Because I love you," he said, and Sydney really wished he'd stop saying that. Every time he said it she was closer to believing him. "I want to be with you, I know it's a risk, but I'm willing to take it. And as far as re-education goes, you have me and Rose and Christian and Dimitri and Lissa and Eddie, and Jill," he counted out every name on his fingers, as if that drove his point home, "on your side. Willing to fight for you. Willing to hide you if need be. If the Alchemists finds out that is, but like I said, we'll be careful."

Sydney was dumbfounded. "You can't keep doing this to me," she finally said, shaking her head. "First you tell me you're not going to bother me about your feelings, then you flirt with me all night. Then, you ask me to give you tonight, and I do. I give you an inch, you want a mile."

He scowled. "I wish you'd stop acting like it's just me who wants this. I wasn't kissing myself just a minute ago. You were kissing me back and you liked it. You want me just as bad as I want you. I know you do. Because I know you."

Sydney was angry. Mainly because he was right. But that wasn't the point and if he_ knew her so well _he should know that. "What I want has nothing to do with it, Adrian." she sighed.

"It has everything to do with it!" he raised his voice, startling Sydney. "You remembered you told me I needed to stop playing the victim? Well, _you_ need to stop playing the martyr all the time. You think you're being noble or something? You're just being stubborn. Denying yourself happiness isn't going to do you any good in the long run."

"It's not just about me!" Sydney tried to keep her voice down, but her blood was boiling now. "I have other people to think about, something you're not familiar with, I know." The words were harsh and Sydney wanted to take them back as soon as they left her mouth, but her mouth just kept on moving and spilling out more toxic words, "If I screw up with the Alchemists, even just a little bit, you know who's going to have to step up and pay the price? Zoe. _My little sister_. My dad's threatened to do it once, already. I don't want this life for her. I _won't _let this happen to her. She deserves to make her own choices, be what ever she wants to be-"

"And you don't?" Adrian asked, shaking his head in disbelief. "There you go again, just throwing yourself on the blade for everyone else, I understand where you're coming from, Sydney. But you can't live the rest of your life this way, it's just stupid. And you're not stupid."

"No, I don't think you do understand," Sydney said coldly. "And if you're seriously asking me to choose you over my sister then you definitely don't know me at all, because there is no contest."

That stopped Adrian short. He stared at her for a moment, narrowing his eyes like he was looking at someone he didn't recognize. "I guess you're right," he said, standing up swiftly. "I don't know you at all." and with that, he turned his back on her and made for the door. Sydney stood up as well, almost as if she was being pulled by an unnatural force. "Adrian!" she hissed after him, but he didn't stop. She flinched at the sound of the door slamming.

Tears threatened to spill but she forced them back down, swallowing hard. This was not how she wanted to leave things between them. Now they were back to square one. Maybe even worse off than they'd been before. One step forward, two steps back. She felt sick to her stomach. Her chest was inexplicably tight. She wanted more than anything to just rewind the past few minutes and unsay what she'd said. She hadn't meant to be so cold toward him, but the fact still remained that she couldn't take that risk to be with him for herself, because she'd be taking the risk for her sister as well, and she wasn't willing to do that. She wasn't even sure if she was willing to do it for herself. Adrian's accusatory words burned in her mind and she hugged her arms around herself, his absence weighing on her painfully. She realized, then, that she was still wearing his jacket. _Great._ She sighed. She was weighing the pros and cons of going after him when a soft voice from behind her made her jump.

"Sydney?"

She spun around and came face to face with Christian, looking sleepy and puzzled.

Embarrassment staggered through her. "Oh, no." she slapped herself on the forehead. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, cringing. "Did we wake you?"

He shook his head, yawning. "NahIwasn'tasleep," he mumbled, "Almost was, but I heard a loud noise and got worried. What's going on?" he blinked slowly, looking around. "Where's Adrian?"

She looked down, exhaling loudly. "That loud noise was Adrian. Slamming the door. He left."

Christian raised an eyebrow.

"We got in a fight," Sydney added, blushing furiously. "I'm so sorry for waking you up. I was just about to leave-"

"Wait, what?" Christian asked, seeming to become more alert. "You got in a fight? What happened?"

Sydney bit her lip. "It was my fault. I think. Well, it doesn't really matter but he's really mad at me now. Like, really mad. He's never looked at me like that before..." Sydney recalled the blank, unfeeling stare he'd given her before he left and her voice broke.

"Aww, Syd, don't cry." Christian took a step toward her, but she back away from him, putting her hands up.

"No, no. It's fine. I'm fine." she tried to laugh, "Tender moments between Adrian and me just aren't complete without someone storming away afterwards."

Christian smirked, then an awkward silence fell between them. He cleared his throat. "Do you uh, want to...talk about it?"

"No," Sydney shook her head. "No."

"Thank you, though." she added, softly. "But I'm just...going to go now."

"You don't have to," he said, before she could even take a step. "Just hang for a couple minutes. Let him cool down. He'll probably come back. I mean, you're still wearing his jacket." he grinned teasingly.

"I don't think so," Sydney sighed. "He's really mad. I kind of am too. It was a...bad fight. I guess, I don't know..."

"You don't have to tell me about it," Christian said, "But I'm here to listen, if you want."

Sydney just gazed at him, this strange boy she was still trying to figure out. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

Christian just shrugged. "I don't know. Because we're friends, I guess. I mean...I don't really have a lot of friends. I figure I should hold on to the ones I've got." he flashed her a sheepish smile. "Plus, like I said, I want you and Adrian to work. You guys are good together."

"How can you tell?"

"I just can," he said. "Kind of reminds me of me and Lissa, I mean, you guys obviously have way bigger judgments to face than us, but I've never seen Adrian so happy as when he's around you. And you look pretty happy when you're around him too."

Sydney didn't really know how to respond to that, so instead she said, "I don't really have a lot of friends either. I never have. I met a few people at the school I go to in Palm Springs that are nice, but, I mean I'm kind of lying to most of them about my entire life, they don't even know my real last name."

"Maybe that's why I feel like being nice to you," Christian said, then his voice turned comically sarcastic. "I mean, you're kind of pathetic."

Sydney laughed out loud at that. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Probably not," Christian chuckled, "Maybe I will if you can hook me up with some of those nifty Alchemist fire bomb things you were talking about. Those sound pretty awesome."

Sydney's laugh died in her throat. "Um, well, you might be out of luck there."

"Not even for your black sheep buddy?" he pouted.

Sydney rolled her eyes. "I would gladly hook you up with some, if they existed."

Christian tilted his head to the side. "Huh?"

She frowned. "I sort of...lied about that. Well, just didn't tell the entire truth. I did make something that set the Strigoi on fire when I threw it, but it wasn't a chemical compound. It was...something else."

Christian narrowed his eyes. "Now I'm confused. How do you make something that catches fire when you throw it?"

She sighed heavily. "It's a long story."

Christian smiled impishly. "I've got all night."


	6. Ch 6 - Shock To Your System

_**A/N: I'm sorry there was such a gap between this update and the last one. This chapter gave me a lot of trouble, for some reason. Anyway, it's finally done (I think) so here it is! One more chapter to go and we will have successfully journeyed through this whacky lil story together! woo! Thank you so much for you guys' continued support and reviews, as always! **_

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Sydney smiled back at Christian, because it was hard not to. Still, she wasn't comfortable talking about Ms. Terwilliger's "assignments" and all the weirdness that surrounded them. She didn't like being involved with magic, and the notion that she had some kind of power in her daunted her. She sighed.

"It's complicated."

"Like, calculus complicated?" Christian smirked. "or like, you don't want to tell me complicated?"

"Calculus isn't really as complicated as people think," Sydney said, ignoring the second part of his question. "It's got a bad rep for being impossible, but it's really quite simple, it's all about memorization-"

"Sydney." Christian cut her off, chuckling. "Did you seriously just get defensive about math?"

Sydney blushed. "No." she cleared her throat. "And anyway, it's not that I don't want to tell you, but...if I did..."

"You'd have to kill me?" Christian raised his eyebrows.

Sydney laughed. "Maybe," She paused, wondering if he'd let the subject drop.

He didn't. He just shrugged easily and said, "Give me the need-to-know version." When she continued to frown he sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to him. "Come on, indugle me. It'll take your mind off whatever it is that happened between you and Adrian."

Sydney sighed, reluctantly moving over to sit beside him. "Well, back in Palm Springs, I have this teacher, she's my History teacher to be exact, which isn't really relevant...Anyway," she cleared her throat, "She used to make me research all this weird stuff about spells and magic, she told me it was for a book she was writing, but as I've come to find out she had ulterior motives for me. She wanted me to learn all that because she's convinced that I can...do things. As in, things that people shouldn't be able to do. Like make a bag of leaves and rocks catch fire spontaneously." She took a deep breath and waited for Christian's reaction to that.

"Wait, wait." Christian said, eyeing her dubiously. "Spells? You mean like, witchcraft?"

Sydney's stomach turned. "Please. Don't use that word."

"Sorry," Christian lifted his hands up, "That's just what it sounds like to me."

"Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me too," Sydney frowned. "Which is why I don't like it. It's like I said earlier, when I threw that amulet at the Strigoi I had no idea it would actually work. I was in survival mode and I just thought, well I'm about to die here, why not?"

"So what was actually in the thingy, then?" Christian asked, seeming more interested in the logistics of the amulet than Sydney's existential crisis.

"Nothing flammable, if that's what you're thinking." Sydney answered. "Nothing that would scientifically make sense to ignite. And while I was making the stupid thing, I had to follow all these ridiculous instructions, like chanting certain phrases over and over, which I _only_ did because I thought it was part of the research project I was supposed to be writing a paper on." Sydney shook her head. "I guess it's lucky I went through with all that, though. Or Adrian and I might not be here today." That thought unsettled her. Magic was wrong. That was something she knew inherently. Humans shouldn't be able to wield that kind of power. And yet, she was certainly grateful to still be alive. And magic had done that. As it had healed a wound in seconds that would have needed stitches had she gone to a hospital.

"So what you're saying is," Christian said slowly, his eyebrows cast downward in thought, "As long as someone had all the ingrediants or whatever, and said all the chants and followed the instructions that you did, they'd be able to do the same thing? It would just...work?"

Sydney's frown deepened. "Well...not exactly."

Christian cocked his head to side. "But it worked for you...because...?"

"I don't know," Sydney shrugged. "If you ask my teacher, it's because I apparently have magical ability within me. I don't know...I really don't know what to make of that." Sydney's mind went back to the night Ms. Terwilliger had dragged her out of bed to do the scrying spell, and the fierceness in her voice when she told Sydney that improving upon her "abilities" was imperative. She wasn't going to get into that with Christian, though. That was not part of the need-to-know version.

"That's wild," Christian said with a smile. Sydney wondered if he was acting so flippant about this to make her feel less strange or because he really just didn't think it was a big deal. She didn't know which one of those she wanted to be true, either. "So what other kind of stuff can you do?"

Sydney swallowed, "A lot. Allegedly, anyway. I have a book of spells that my teacher gave me. I started reading it on the way here. Apparently manipulating fire, in small quantities anyway, is one of the more basic things a...magic user," she said the word pointedly, "can do. Which probably explains why the incineration amulet worked for me. I wasn't even trying when I did it."

"Or maybe you're just super powerful," Christian goaded, clearly not realizing how much this whole thing bothered her.

"I don't like to think so," Sydney said.

He shook his head. "Wow, that's so crazy. In a good way," he added, touching her shoulder. "I mean that's pretty cool that you can do all that stuff. Anything you can demonstrate?"

Sydney widened her eyes. "What? No."

"Oh," Christian's face crumpled in disappointment, which surprisingly had a stirring effect on her.

"It's not that I wouldn't show you," she said, "It's just that...I don't like doing anything magic-related unless I absolutely have to. And most spells are kind of complicated. They require certain ingrediants that have to be prepared meticulously. The most basic one I came across so far was a spell to light a candle, but the simpler ones would require someone much more advanced than me to pull them off." She gave him an apologetic look.

Christian stood up wordlessly and walked away. Sydney was confused. Was he that upset she couldn't show him anything? She was pissing people off left and right tonight, it seemed.

"Christian?" she asked hesitantly, unsure of whether she should follow him. He returned a moment later, a wide grin on his face. She was still confused but at least he wasn't mad.

All became clear when sat down next to her on the couch, unfolding his hand. She looked down to find him holding a small, circular candle.

She rolled her eyes, laughing. "Christian, I told you. I won't be able to do it."

He nudged his hand forward. "Yeah, yeah. But try it anyway, I just want to see you in action."

"There's not going to be any action," she said, picking up the candle and holding flat in her own palm. "It's not going to work."

"Oh well," he shrugged. "Then you can just say 'I told you so', you seem like the type of person who'd be into that."

She frowned. "Are you calling me a know-it-all?"

"Only in the best of terms," he smiled. "Come on Sydney, pleeeease?" he stretched out the e sound in the word please like a whiny child.

She shook her head. "Alright, alright." she stared half-heartedly down at the candle, recalling the incantation she'd read. She took a deep breath. "Air around me, grant me fire." She paused. As expected, nothing happened. She looked up at Christian smugly. "I told you-"

"You didn't even try!" He accused, laughing. "That doesn't count."

She scoffed. "I was trying!" Though she really wasn't. Partially because she knew it wasn't going to work, regardless, and partially because she was afraid it would.

"Oh come on," he sighed. "Really try. Feel the magic in your bones, or whatever witches do."

"I thought we agreed not to use that word," Sydney narrowed her eyes.

"Okay, sorry, whatever _magic users_ do." Christian rolled his eyes.

Sydney didn't really know why she was humoring him like this, she had nothing to prove to him, she barely knew him, after all. But there was something about him that just...clicked with her. She liked him. He was nice and funny and seemed like he was one of those people who just didn't judge. She'd spent her whole life around people who did nothing but judge, so being around someone like Christian was a pleasant break from that. It was very odd, because as far as vampires went, Christian was the least likely one she'd ever thought she'd want to touch with a ten foot pole, let alone sit on the same couch with. Yet she felt inexplicably at ease around him. Not the same way that she did when she was with Adrian, that was in a whole other universe of emotions, but maybe she and Christian really were something like kindred spirits. She shook her head, sighing heavily. "Fine."

She closed her eyes and attempted to clear her mind and concentrate on the spell. The book said you had to be intensely focused on what you were trying to achieve. You had to envision the power within yourself, feel it, harness it, and release it. Seemed simple enough, except this was for someone who already understood their power and knew how to use it. Sydney didn't fit either of those requirements. Still, she tried to do so. She envisioned the power as an amorphous source of light in her chest that spread up and out, traveling through her arms and down to her fingertips. Power of suggestion must be a powerful thing indeed, because at that moment she felt an off-putting sensation in her hands. It was hard to describe, like a humming of sorts, an indistinct vibration that came with an unexpected swelling of self-assurance. She opened her eyes and looked down at the candle. _Focus on what you're trying to achieve_, she reminded herself. She narrowed her mind down to one train of thought. The humming feeling intensified, and with each second that passed it built up inside of her like a rubber band being stretched to its snapping point. She took a deep, steadying breath and spoke with purpose, _"Air around me, grant me fire." _

She stared down at the candle for a few seconds. Nothing happened. She exhaled and the humming feeling inside her faltered, but in a strangely dissatisfying way. She found herself actually a little bit disappointed. And though it had faded substantially, the humming feeling still lingered uncomfortably within her, like she had too much energy in her body that needed to be expelled.

She looked up at Christian, blinking herself out of the trance she'd unwittingly gone into. "Sorry," she said a little dazedly, "I tried."

"S'okay." Christian flashed her an easy smile. "I really thought it was going to work there for a second, you looked...intense."

"Yeah, I almost did too." Sydney laughed, shaking her head. "But like I said, simpler spells are for the more advanced and my abilities are still underdeveloped."

"Ah, well." Christian shrugged. "You get an A for effort." he reached forward to retrieve the candle from her palm, pinching it between thumb and forefinger, and as he pulled away his hand lightly brushed up against hers. In that instant, two things happened.

One: the humming feeling went into overdrive. It was like the jolt of static electricity you get when you touch something metal after walking across a carpet, except times ten.

And, Two: The candle burst into flame.

"Whoa!" Christian exclaimed, struggling to keep the candle steady in his fingers, "talk about a delayed reaction!"

Sydney reared back in shock, bringing her hands up to her chest. The candle snuffed itself out a second later. "Christian!" she admonished, blinking rapidly. "Why did you do that?"

"Me?" Christian looked surprised. "I didn't do anything."

"Of course you did," Sydney was breathless, her heart still beating fast. "The candle lit when you touched it."

He frowned. "But I wasn't trying to do anything."

"Well, I certainly didn't do it," Sydney wrung her hands, as if to knead out any of the residual tingly feeling that was coursing through them.

Christian pursed his lips in thought, then a strangely wonderstruck expression spread across his features. He set the candle aside. "Sydney, I think..." he cocked his head to the side, "I think _we_ did it."

Sydney scoffed. "That is impossible."

"Is it?" Christian asked, looking up at her. "I mean...I don't know how your magic works or anything-"

"That makes two of us," Sydney grumbled, though she had a pretty good idea of where he was going with this.

"But," Christian pressed on, "It would kind of make sense... I mean, you were using energy to channel a specific element, right?" he looked at her expectantly.

"Sort of," she nodded slowly, "But-"

"And that element was fire, which is the element I have an affinity for." he smiled, like he was talking about an old friend, "Maybe we somehow..." he paused, then balled his hands into fists, extending each index finger and touched them together, making a zap sound as he did so.

Sydney shook her head, "I don't...that's impossible." she said again.

"The candle didn't light when I touched it," he gave her a pointed look, "It lit when I touched _you_. And my hand felt all weird when it happened, like that tingly feeling you get when your foot falls asleep." He smiled. "Come on, Sydney. You have to admit, that was pretty cool."

"Cool" wasn't the word she'd use to describe what had just happened. Usually she felt drained and weak after a spell, but right now she felt fine. Better than fine, actually. She felt a little bit hyped up, like she'd had one too many coffees. Was it possible that when Christian touched her their powers had somehow...combined? Theoretically, she supposed it wasn't completely out of the question. She'd have to speak with Ms. Terwilliger about it, but then that would require actually telling Ms. Terwilliger what she'd done, and if her teacher found out she'd been able to almost complete a spell someone with her rudimentary skills should not have been able to, she might bust a capillary Sydney didn't want to think that she had any type of arcane ability at all, let alone a powerful one.

She shook her head again, "I can't believe that just happened." She looked down at the candle Christian had set on the coffee table in front of them, then back up at him. She puffed out a breath. "I guess that was kind of cool."

"Hell yeah it was!" Christian laughed, taking ahold of her shoulder and giving her a light shake. "I mean, imagine what we could do if we both actually tried. And when you know more about your powers, I bet we could like-"

"Christian!" Sydney hissed, "I don't want to imagine anything like that. I don't like doing this. I'm only learning more about it because..." she paused, still not wanting to delve into the specifics, "because I promised my teacher I would try to improve upon my skills a bit. But I don't even like the idea that I have any sort of magical ability, and this is something that has to stay between us." she looked at him seriously.

His face fell. "Oh," he said. "Okay."

"Don't give me that face!" Sydney groaned, trying to look away from the kicked puppy expression in his impossibly blue eyes. "You should feel special I even tried a spell at all, I don't think I can express how uncomfortable I am with all this."

He leaned back against the couch, eyeing her curiously. "I'm guessing the Alchemists wouldn't approve?"

"A gross understatement," Sydney said.

He nodded, then smirked. "You're kind of sucking at the whole, not doing stuff the Alchemists frown upon, you know."

Sydney sighed heavily. "Yes. Of this, I am aware."

"Maybe..." he paused, "I don't want to offend you or anything, but maybe you're not really meant to be one of them. In the time I've spent around you, you don't really seem like the others I've come across."

Sydney shot him a sharp look. What he was saying was true. She'd broken more rules than she could count, but she was very good at justifying most of it to herself. She'd never felt like she really fit in with the other Alchemists. No matter what she did nothing was ever good enough for them, and even on the rare occasions she was praised for all her hard work, it never really felt...good. She always felt like she was just floundering on the fringes, holding on with all her might, trying to force herself to feel accepted by a group of people who didn't seem to actually care that much about her.

Christian made a face. "Uh oh. Did I strike a nerve?"

"Something like that," Sydney said tightly.

"Hey," he said, and his voice was soft, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean as a bad thing. If anything it was a compliment. I mean, you're really cool and fun and..." he trailed off, "You know. The Alchemists don't really seem like a fun bunch. I know you were raised by them but, hey, I was raised by psychos. And for a long time I thought that's all life had in store for me. That was all I knew. And people automatically wrote me off as the 'messed up kid' you know? So that's what I thought I had to be." he paused, and Sydney turned to face him, watching as he picked up a bottle from the table and started absent-mindedly peeling back the label on it as he spoke. "I played that up, because I thought that's all people would ever expect of me. And maybe that _was _me a little bit, back then, but I didn't really know _who_ I was...I don't know, I'm not making any sense." he laughed. "The point I'm trying to make is, who you were raised by doesn't necessarily determine who you're going to be. It took me a long time to realize that."

Sydney stared at him. His words stirred something inside of her. It was a warm feeling, like walking into a well heated room after being out in the cold. "Well," she breathed after a moment. "That was...deep."

"Yeah," he laughed, still staring intently at the bottle he was holding, clearly embarrassed. "Didn't mean to go all philosophical on you. I just...I know what it's like to think you have to be a certain way...and it sucks."

Sydney nodded slowly, still reeling from everything he'd said. "Yeah. It definitely doesn't feel good."

"Sorry for forcing you into doing the spell thing,though." he said the words quickly, like he wasn't sure if he should be saying them or not. "I didn't mean to make you feel weird."

"Oh, no." Sydney said, reaching forward to put her hand on his wrist. "It wasn't you that made me feel weird. Please don't think that." She smiled at him. "It's all of this. It's me, even. I don't really know what I'm doing, to be honest. Nothing I should be, that's for sure."

He smiled back. "Nobody knows what they're doing. I certainly don't. We all just do the best we can, I guess." he set the bottle he'd been fidgeting with back down on the table and leaned back against the couch. "I think it's been long enough. You should probably go talk to Adrian."

Sydney smirked. "Are you kicking me out?"

He chuckled. "You're welcome to sleep here, if you want. But I think you'll regret it if you don't find him before tomorrow. When me and Lissa fight, it's the worst. It's like I can't even think about anything else until we've made up."

Sydney sighed. "I'd like to talk to him but I don't know if it's a good idea. Maybe I should just give him space, let him come to me?"

Christian shook his head. "Then you'll be waiting for a long time. Have you met Adrian?"

She couldn't help but laugh, though the sick feeling in her stomach had returned now that she was thinking about Adrian again. "I guess you're right. You're so wise." she teased. "I feel like I just had a therapy session. How much do I owe you?"

"First one's on the house," he grinned. "But my usual rate is one thousand dollars an hour."

"I'd say that's a fair price for a piece of your infinite wisdom," Sydney said, nodding. Then she turned her voice serious. "All jokes aside, I really do appreciate you talking to me. You're...you're a really good friend."

He shrugged, seemingly embarrassed again. "It's no big deal."

"It is to me," she whispered. Then, in a surprise to both of them, she leaned forward to lock him in a tight embrace. It took him a moment to react, but he wrapped his arms around her as well, giving her a too-tight squeeze, the way a brother would. "I'm really glad I met you," she said, her chin resting on his shoulder. "You're a good person."

He pulled back from the hug, looking down sheepishly. "Back atcha," he said, "To both of those things."

They both stood up then, and Sydney sighed. "I don't know about that. I used to think I was a good person, but lately I'm not so sure."

Christian rolled his eyes. "I could argue with you about this, but I've got to admit, I'm actually really tired." he laughed. "But we can cover that in our next therapy session."

"Oh, goodness, I forgot!" Sydney blushed, remembering Adrian's dramatic departure was what had dragged Christian out of bed. "I'm sorry. You should go back to sleep."

"I'll walk you out," he said, gesturing toward the door. "Good luck with Adrian," he added as he opened it for her. "You'll need it."

Sydney tried to smile at his joke but there was too much truth in it for her to really find it funny. "Thanks," she whispered as she slipped out into the hallway. "For everything. Again."

"Goodnight, Sydney." was all he said in reply, and Sydney realized she was probably embarrassing him again.

"Goodnight, Christian." They shared one last smile before she turned away and made the uncomfortable trek to Adrian's hotel room. She didn't even know if he'd be in there, or if he'd be asleep, but she had to try.

* * *

It took four knocks with agonizing one minute pauses between (she actually counted to 60 in her head each time) before Adrian answered the door. He looked at her, bleary eyed. "What?"

She tried not to flinch. "I'm sorry if I woke you," she said, which was the first line of the speech she'd been running over and over through her mind on her way to his room. "But I realized after you left that I still had your jacket. I came to give it back. I would have brought it sooner but I figured I should give you some time to yourself." she cleared her throat, shrugging the jacket off her shoulders and extending it out to him.

He stared at her outstretched hand for a long moment, then took the jacket. "Is that all?"

"No..." she said, her voice wavering. "I...um...well, I wanted to talk to you."

"So, talk." he said stiffly, not meeting her eyes.

Her stomach turned over. So, he was still mad. Obviously. She took a deep breath. "Can I come in?"

"Why?" He looked up at her then, and the coldness in his gaze stunned her.

She blinked, trying to keep herself calm and her voice light. "So we can talk."

"I don't know what there is to talk about," he said, leaning against the doorframe. "You made it pretty clear how you feel."

"I know you're upset with me, Adrian." Sydney spoke softly, keeping her voice like a caress. "So let's talk about it."

"So I should just let you in? Just like that? Just because _you're_ ready to talk about it? Did it ever occur to you that maybe I'm not?" he scoffed. "Oh, I forgot. You're too busy thinking about everyone else on the face of the planet."

Okay, maybe he was even madder than she'd originally thought. She didn't say anything for awhile, just stared into his eyes, trying to feel him out. Did he really want her to go? Or was he just punishing her?

"I can see you're still quite angry," she forced the words out of her throat, which felt dry and tight. "If you want me to leave, I will. I just came by because I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't at least try to come talk to you. And I still had your jacket." She gave him a weak smile that he made no attempt to return.

Sydney blinked, waiting for him to say something, anything. He just stared at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. She couldn't take the intensity of his gaze on her like that. She was about to just turn around and leave when he took a few steps backward into the room, opening the door wider.

Sydney took that as her cue to enter. Adrian shut the door behind her with a soft click. They were engulfed in darkness. Sydney reached out to take one of Adrian's hands in hers. She was surprised that he didn't pull it away. "Adrian," she whispered, finding bravery in the darkness she wouldn't have if she could properly see his face. "I don't even know where to start. I _know_ you're mad-"

"I wasn't," Adrian replied, cutting her short. "Well, I mean, I was when I left Lissa's room. But then I took a walk, calmed myself down. And when I thought about it and realized I'm really just mad at this entire situation, and myself, but then when I saw you I just got...mad at you all over again." he rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. "I'm sorry for being an asshole, but I'm still mad, and the more I think about it the more pissed off I get."

Hearing him say out loud that he was mad at her was nauseating. The words seized her chest in a painful vice-like grip. She tried to nod. "I understand."

"Do you?" Adrian asked. "Do you understand why I'm so upset?"

This felt like a trick question. Sydney didn't quite know how to answer because in that moment she realized she _didn't _really know why he was so upset. Adrian was a complex person, it could be any number of things. The fight being the most obvious, but Sydney knew that wasn't the only thing wrong here, because there was clearly something else going on.

"I think I do," she said finally. "But maybe it would make you feel better to tell me yourself, get it all out in the open."

He sighed. "It's a lot of things. But mostly, it's the fact that you haven't even thought about me."

That threw her. "Excuse me?"

"This whole time it's been about how hard this is for you," he said. "And I've tried to be as understanding as I possibly can, even though it hurts me. Every single moment I'm with you, it hurts me. But I've been trying. But it was worth it to me, because I thought you were trying too, trying to understand where I'm coming from. But you don't, because you don't even think about me at all."

Sydney let go of his hand. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with him again but she couldn't just stand here and let him throw this kind of accusation at her.

"How can you say that?" she asked, shaking her head in disbelief. "Of course I think about you. I think about you constantly. I know it's hard for you to be around me because of your feelings-"

"And that's another thing!" he interjected, placing his hands on his hips. "You always do that. You pin it all on me, as if I'm the only one who wants this relationship. I can't stand it when you do that, Sydney. Not only is it incredibly frustrating but it hurts me. And I know you don't even realize what you're saying," he pressed on even when she opened her mouth to speak, "But that just kills me even more because it's like I said, you don't _think _about_ me_. You think about everyone else in the world, but you don't think about me."

"That's not true," Sydney said immediately, her first instinct to deny what he was words crawled under her skin and gnawed away at her insides. He said she hurt him. The tightness in her chest twisted around her heart. She never wanted to do that. He was the last person on Earth she wanted to hurt. Maybe there was some truth to what he was saying, but why couldn't he see things from her perspective? Of course she thought about him and his feelings, she thought about them all the time, but why didn't he understand that she couldn't just drop everything in her life to be with him? Is that what he wanted her to do?

"What do you want from me, Adrian?" she asked. "Do you want me to just turn my back on everything that I know? On my family?"

"No." She could barely make out his features in the dark, but he seemed to be mulling this over in his head. "And yes."

She sighed wearily, rubbing her temples. "I really don't want to fight with you over this. Not now."

"Well then, when?" there was bitterness in Adrian's voice. "Should I call your office and schedule myself an appointment?" His voice took on a strange, disconnected quality and Sydney worried he was going around the spirit bend. She took a step toward him.

"What hours are good for you, Sage? What days of the week?" he continued, the mania rising in his voice. "How many forms of ID should I have with me? Should I-"

"Adrian." Her voice was stern as she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to rest on her shoulder.

He made a small sound of surprise in the back of his throat. "What are you doing-"

"Shh," she whispered directly into his ear. She felt him tense up, his body stiff against hers. She threaded her fingers through his hair, stroking softly. "Shh." she whispered again. After a moment his body went slack. She heard the soft thud of his jacket hitting the floor. She felt his arms around her waist, pulling her close. They stayed like that for awhile, Adrian's face pressed into the crook of her neck. She could feel his warm, shaky breath on her skin. She continued running her fingers through his hair in a soothing manner.

"I do think about you," she told him quietly. "Maybe I'm not the best at showing it, and I know I haven't handled this situation the way I should have, but it's just because I don't know how. I've never had anything like this happen to me before. I've never felt this way about anyone before. It's scary."

He didn't say anything. She closed her eyes and squeezed her arms around him tighter.

"I hate that we fought." she whispered, her eyes still shut. "I _hate _it. Standing here, knowing you're mad at me, it makes me feel..._sick_." her voice caught but the words just kept pouring out of her, "I can't even think straight. My head's spinning and I feel like I can't breathe. Because you're mad at me. You're _mad_ at me. And it hurts." she had to stop talking after that. The tightness in her chest spread to her throat as it closed up with tears that she didn't dare let spill. She tried to take a deep breath but it came out shallow and jagged.

She felt him shift against her, his face moved up to brush against hers. In spite of everything the sweet intimacy of it sent shivers down her spine. His hands moved from her waist up to cup her face. "Hey," he said. "Look at me."

She shook her head and could feel the skin of his cheek, rough with the hint of stubble, against hers. She wanted to kiss his face, his lips. Kiss him until neither of them had a single rational thought left in their brains.

But she didn't, of course. She stood frozen, eyes closed, refusing to look at him. She was afraid of what would happen if she did. To be so close to him, inches away from those gorgeous, piercing eyes that knew her better than she knew herself. She'd lose herself in them, in him. She wanted to. The things she was willing to do, all at once, rattled her to her core. She could give up everything in an instant, just to have him this close always. She felt like she was hanging on for dear life to the edge of a cliff, and she had no idea what lay at the bottom of it, but strangely wanted to let herself fall.

But she didn't, of course. She managed to step back from him. Only when she was a safe distance away did she open her eyes. He was looking at her intensely, and even in the dark she could see his face was etched in concern.

"Sydney," his voice was so soft compared to how it had been minutes earlier. He took a hesitant step toward her. "Are you okay?"

"No," she answered honestly. "No, I don't think so."

He reached for her hands and she let him. She felt dizzy and light-headed, and his warm hands were a steadying comfort.

"Let's go sit down," he said. He led her away from the door, further into the dark room, until they reached a small love seat against the wall, across from the bed. He gently pushed her onto it and sat down beside her. The smallness of the seat forced them close together, which was exactly what she was trying to avoid. She looked away from him, even as he grabbed for her hands again, holding them in his lap. He gave them a squeeze.

"I almost freaked out for a second there," Sydney tensed at the mention of his near stint into the dark depths of spirit, but the subtle humor his voice almost always held had returned, and Sydney was infinitely grateful for that.

"You stopped me, though." his voice dropped low, containing something like awe. "I've freaked out in front of people, before. It's always awkward, they never know what to do. Most people just sort of stand there, let it happen, let me work my way through it. But you stopped me. No one's ever done that before."

She turned to him, and was surprised to see how surprised the look in his eyes was. She squeezed his hands back. "Well," she said finally, "I'm not most people."

"Yeah," Adrian chuckled. "I know that. I knew that from the moment I met you."

She couldn't help but smile at that. All the anger present in him before seemed to have dissipated. She hoped now they could talk civilly about what had happened. "Adrian, listen-"

"No," he said, "I have something to say."

She swallowed, bracing herself for another barrage of accusations. That was fine. He needed to get everything out. They needed to be honest with each other or they'd never get anywhere with their relationship. "Okay," she said.

"I know I'm asking you for too much," he said, leaning in close to her. "I know it's not fair for me to do that. I know that you have a lot to lose for choosing to be with me. I know all that. But the thing is, I have a lot to lose too. Maybe not as much as you do, and not in the same way, but if you were to say to me right here and now, 'I want you to drop everything and be with me. Just be with me.' I would do it without hesitation."

The words rendered her genuinely speechless for a few moments. Then the realization of what he was saying started to sink in. She found herself blushing. It was a wonderful thing to hear, that someone wanted you more than they wanted anything else. But she didn't know if she could promise the same to him. For a moment there, when they were pressed close, she had certainly considered it. To just throw caution to the wind, let herself love him freely and let the chips fall where they may. The need to be with him had overpowered everything else in her otherwise wholly analytic brain. But now that she was thinking a little more clearly, she knew there was too much on the line for her to do that. "Adrian," she sighed. "I can't-"

"I know what you're going to say," he actually freed one of his hands from hers and put a finger to her lips. "But just listen to me, please. Hear me out for a second." She nodded silently. He dropped his hand and intertwined it with hers again.

"I can't go on forever like this with you," he said, "I know it was my idea. The whole 'let's just have the night' thing. I thought I could handle it. Mainly because I thought once you let yourself feel what you were denying you'd realize that you wanted to be with me properly-I know that was stupid," he added when she opened her mouth to retort. "I was holding you to a promise you didn't actually make. I got angry when I realized that. At myself, not at you. But I took it out on you, and then you said some things...we both did...that were hurtful. And I don't want us to hurt each other. That's not what I want us to be."

"That's not what I want, either." Sydney said emphatically.

"I know," he said, smiling gently at her. "Which is why we need to make a concrete decision. Or well, you do. I think we both already know what mine is."

Sydney didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is," he bit his lip, almost like he was unsure of himself. "If we're going to be friends, then we need to be _friends_." He emphasized the word. "As in, not friends who flirt with each other constantly and make-out on occasion. I can't do that, Sydney. It would just confuse the hell out of me."

"I don't want to do that," Sydney said, furrowing her brow. "Friendship, real friendship from you is all I want." That wasn't true, it was not even close to what she wanted from him. But it was all that could ever be. The reality of that cut through her painfully, but she still managed to smile at him.

He smiled back. "Okay. If that's what you want that's what we'll be. But it won't..." he paused, "It won't ever be the same between us, you know that, right? We can't be close the way we used to be. Too much has happened...when we get back to Palm Springs, I'm going to need some time...to myself. To come to terms with everything, you know? And I don't know how long that's going to take. But I don't think I can be around you for awhile."

The hurt in Sydney's heart must have been evident on her face because he quickly added, "It's not because I don't want to be, you know that. But it hurts, Sage. It hurts so freaking much. Having you right in front of me but not being able to really _have you_. You understand that, don't you?"

She nodded, unable to speak.

He leaned forward, wrapping a hand around her neck and pulling her head forward so he could kiss the top of it. "Whew," he let out a long breath. "That was the depressing option. Now that that's out of the way, do you want to hear the other option?"

Sydney looked up at him curiously. "There's another option?"

"Of course," he said. "There's always another option."

She sighed, shaking her head at him. "I should have known."

"The other option," he said, his voice taking on an almost wistful quality, "is that we aren't friends at all. We're more than friends. And like I said earlier, we could keep it a secret. I mean, not forever, but for now. For as long as you need or I need, I don't know. We'll take it one day at a time, I guess. I don't really know how we'd do it, to be honest. I know this is a really shoddy sales pitch, but I want to be honest with you. I can't promise you that it would be easy. And I can't promise you that no one would ever find out, but what I can promise is that I would make you happy. I know that for sure." he smiled, and Sydney's heart fluttered in her chest. "Because I love you, Sydney Sage. I love you so much. You already know all that. But I feel like I need to keep saying it. I'll never stop saying it. I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe, and if the Alchemists do find out about us, they'd have go through me to get to you. I know I don't look like much," he laughed slightly, "but when someone I love is in danger, trust me, you don't want to mess with me. I know you're worried for your sister, too. And that...sucks." he shook his head. "It sucks because that's out of both of our control. I know it's hard for you to accept that, but you can't sacrifice your own happiness forever just to protect her. They're probably going to throw her into this crazy Alchemy thing regardless, right?"

It was an unsettling truth that Sydney didn't want to think about. Her jaw clenched. "Probably."

"All I'm asking is that you don't use that as an excuse to say no to me." he said, his eyes locked on hers. "And I don't want you to say yes just because you're afraid of losing me. I want you to say yes because you want me just as much as I want you. I've been completely honest with you. All I want is for you to be completely honest with me. And..." he paused, glancing upward in thought. "No, actually, I think that's it." he exhaled deeply. "So, that's the other option."

Sydney blinked a few times, her heart beating rapidly. She found it impossible to look away from Adrian, who'd just cracked open his chest and let his heart pour out right in front of her. He was beautiful, vulnerable, and brave and honest and everything she was afraid to be. She brought her hands up to touch his face. "You're really amazing, you know that?"

"I feel crazy right now," He laughed shakily, trying to smile. "My heart's beating so fast."

"Mine too," Sydney said. She grabbed one of his hands and placed it on her chest so he could feel.

His smiled turned wicked. "I really want to make an inappropriate joke right now, but I probably shouldn't."

"Probably not," Sydney laughed. "But you wouldn't be you if you didn't."

His smile faded after a moment and his voice turned serious. "So...what do you think?"

Sydney took a deep breath. "I think...I need some more time to think." It was the lamest answer in the world, but it was all she had. She looked up at him. "Is that okay?"

He nodded. "Of course. But well..." he made a face, "How much more time?"

"I'm not going to leave you hanging, if that's what you're afraid of." she whispered and his tense posture noticeably loosened. "It's just been such a long night and I'm trying to take all this in at once and I'm just...tired."

He nodded again. "I understand."

"This might be a bad time to bring it up, but, after you left, I stayed behind in the room and talked to Christian for awhile."

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "I thought he was asleep."

"Yeah well, you woke him up with your dramatic exit."

"Ah," Adrian chuckled. "Oops."

"Anyway, he was curious about the way I'd managed to set that Strigoi on fire. Thanks for bringing that up in front of everyone, by the way." she shot him a look.

Adrian winced, then pouted. "Double oops."

Sydney rolled her eyes. "I don't remember how exactly, but he convinced me into showing him, you know..." Sydney dropped her voice to a near whisper. "A spell. And something really weird happened."

Adrian looked surprised. "How did you do a spell? You didn't have any magic-y stuff on you. Did you?"

Sydney shook her head. "That's what was weird. I told him that. But he was adamant, and I thought we were mostly just joking around, so I tried to light this stupid candle just by saying a spell from the book and it well...it worked."

Adrian looked at her, confused. "Wait, was that the weird part?"

"Yes!" Sydney exclaimed, slapping his shoulder indignantly. "I should not have been able to do that kind of spell. I don't think I would have been able to if Christian hadn't been there. I know this is going to sound insane, but I think his presence, we somehow..." she paused, then mimicked the same gesture Christian had made, touching her fingers together.

"Oh," Adrian said, "That is odd, I suppose. But pretty cool." he grinned. "Jackie's gonna flip when you tell her."

Sydney sighed. "I don't even know if I should tell her. I don't know what I should do about any of this, Adrian. I had to act like I was fine with it around Christian because I didn't want to freak him out but it scared me. _I _scared me. What if Ms. Terwilliger is right? What if I really do have all this untapped...power," she stumbled uncomfortably over the word, "My whole life I've always thought I knew exactly what sort of person I was, but now..." her voice quivered, "I have no idea."

"Hey," Adrian said, bringing his arms around her. "Hey. It's okay."

"It's not, though." Sydney said miserably. "I don't know who I am anymore."

"Oh, Sage." Adrian brought a hand up to stroke her hair. "You're 18 years old. You're not supposed to know who you are."

"I never wanted this," she said, with a fierce shake of her head. "I never even imagined something like this could be a part of my life. It just came at me out of nowhere and I have no clue what I'm supposed to do with it."

Adrian leaned back from her, biting his lip slightly. He squinted his eyes as if he were trying to remember something. "What's that quote?" he asked, suddenly. "I'm sure you know it. It's like...ah, I can't remember. Anyway, I know it ends with something about having greatness thrust upon you. That's what's happening to you now. But it's your choice, Sage. You may be thrust with all this greatness, but it's your decision which path you go down."

Sydney had to fight the urge to laugh. "You know that quote is actually widely misinterpreted," she said with a smile. "Taken out of context, it makes sense as a motivational statement, but the quote itself is from a fake love letter that was meant to be written from the character Olivia to her servant, Malvolio, from Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_. It wasn't actually written by Olivia, though. It was just part of a prank that was being played on him by other characters. Which is why the line _some have greatness thrust upon them_ is actually more of a sexual innuendo than anything else. If Malvolio chooses to become Olivia's lover, then he will quite literally have her 'greatness' thrust upon him." Sydney couldn't contain her laughter, then. And Adrian laughed along with her.

"What the hell?" he asked, shaking his head. "I've gotta start reading more Shakespeare."

"Well, I stand by what I said, though." he said once they'd managed to stop giggling. "Minus the weird thrusting thing. If anyone's going to thrust you with their greatness, it's going to be me." he flashed her a terrible smile and she gave him a hard look.

"Listen," he said, seriously. "I know Jackie's got you all freaked out with her mysterious talk of impending doom or whatever, but you make your own choices, no matter what. And I'll always support you one hundred percent, whatever those choices may be."

Her heart swelled in her chest. She never wanted to kiss anyone more than she wanted to kiss Adrian right then. But she couldn't. And it killed her. She needed to sort through all her emotions and kissing would just confuse everything. She looked at him meaningfully.

"I should probably go back to my room now," she said. "I'm exhausted. And I need to think."

He brought his hands to rest on her shoulders. "You can sleep here."

She blushed at the unexpected suggestion. The traitorous thought of Adrian's body pressed right up against hers in a warm bed, their legs intertwined-_No_. She broke free from that train of thought before it could go any further. "I don't think so," she said.

His hands moved to encircle her neck as he traced the outline of it with his fingertips. "I swear I won't even touch you. Not if you don't want me to. I'll sleep on the floor if you want." he smirked. "I just want you close."

"It's a tempting offer," she whispered. "But I won't be able to think properly if I'm around you. And I have...a monumental amount of thinking to do."

He looked disappointed for a moment, then nodded. "You're right. But before you go, I'm sorry..." he leaned in close, "I just have to...it might be the last time and I just...have to..." he finished his broken thought by pressing his lips against hers. She made a small noise of disapproval in the back of her throat but almost immediately melted into the kiss afterward. It was a different kind of kiss. It wasn't romantic and passionate, nor was it fierce and lust-driven. It was just a long, soft kiss. It was a kiss that said, I love you so much I just need to have your mouth on mine for awhile. Simple as it was, it changed something inside of her, like a big, complicated puzzle sliding and locking into place.

After they broke apart, he stood up, taking her hands and pulling her up with him. He walked her to the door silently.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Goodnight, Sage."

"Goodnight," she whispered. "I'll uh, I'll come by in the morning before we leave and..." she swallowed. "We'll talk."

"Looking forward to it," he said, opening the door for her. She paused awkwardly at the doorway.

What else was there to say? She didn't want to leave him, suddenly. It was all happening too fast and she felt incredibly anxious.

"You want me to walk you to your room?" he asked softly, as if reading her thoughts.

Yes. No. She shook her head. She needed to be away from him. She couldn't think straight like this. "Thank you," she said. "But I think I can manage without you."

He gave her a slow nod and she stepped completely out of the room as Adrian shut the door. As she walked back to her room she felt like a confused ghost wandering the halls. What was she doing? What did she want? Was she willing to take such a big risk when the outcome was so unpredictable? That wasn't the kind of thing she prided herself on doing. And there was so very much at stake, for the both of them. But her mind drifted back to her parting words to Adrian. Could she manage without him? She wasn't sure of that at all.


	7. Ch 7 - This Is For Keeps

"_Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." _

― _Marie Curie_

When she was safe inside the confines of her hotel room Sydney stripped out of her dress and into an over-sized t shirt and shorts. She slid quietly into bed and glanced at the clock. 2:35 AM. Splendid. She needed to be up at 8 AM for her 10 AM flight back to Palm Springs. And she'd promised Adrian she'd speak with him before then. She decided she'd go to him at 7. She didn't know how long it would take for her to give him an answer but it was better to be safe than sorry, and an hour seemed like more than enough time. That gave her 5 hours of sleep, but if she went to bed right now and woke up at 7 to go see Adrian, she'd be in the same state of mind then as she was now. She quickly adjusted her plan in her mind. She would sleep for a couple hours, then wake up, think things over, and then go see Adrian.

It was 2:40 now. She set the alarm on her phone for 4:30. It usually took her around 15 minutes or so to fall asleep. So if she was out by 3, she'd only get an hour and a half of sleep. But it was the only time that allowed her to wake up in between sleep cycles, which was proven to ensure more alertness upon waking, with enough time to think, get herself packed and ready, and talk to Adrian, all before 8 AM, which is when they needed to be leaving the hotel.

She closed her eyes, sighing deeply. Her mind, of course, went straight to Adrian. She wasn't supposed to be thinking about him, not now, that was for later. But he swirled through her thoughts obstinately. She wondered what he was doing right now. Sleeping, probably. Well, given the circumstances, probably not. She felt a pang, then, feeling bad for being the cause of him losing any sleep. She rolled to her side, bringing her legs up to her chest. The bed was too big, suddenly. The room was too dark. She sunk down lower into bed, pulling the comforter over her head. She closed her eyes tightly, trying not to imagine what if would be like if she had taken Adrian up on his offer to sleep in his room. It was utterly out of the question, she knew that. But alone the in the dark she couldn't help but wonder about how it would feel to be that intimate with someone. Not just any someone, but Adrian. She felt goosebumps rising along her skin. The thought of his warm arms around her, holding her while she slept, made her giddy. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest. She took a deep breath, shaking free of any more impure thoughts. She needed to sleep. But she wasn't tired, which was absurd. She'd been exhausted just a few minutes ago. Now she felt wired. Her legs were restless, stretching out and kicking uncomfortably beneath her. She tried to roll over and re-position herself. She tried to clear her mind. She tried deep breathing exercises. She tried counting backwards from 1,000. Nothing worked.

With a heavy groan, she propped herself up, looking to the clock on the nightstand. 3:26 AM. Fantastic. If she managed to fall asleep in the next 4 minutes she'd have an hour of sleep. What was the point of that? Still, she had to try.

Awhile later, Sydney rolled over in bed groggily, blinking slowly. It took her a moment to realize she had actually dozed off. She reached blindly for her phone, grabbing it from the nightstand to see how long she'd been out for. The time read 4:02 AM. _Okay_, she thought. _That's it_. She gave up on trying to sleep. It was clear it wasn't going to happen any time soon. _I just won't sleep_, she thought, throwing the covers off herself with reckless abandon. She supposed if worst came to worst she could always sleep on the plane. That might prove to be an easy way out of an awkward trip home, depending on how her conversation would go with Adrian in a few hours. She really had no idea what she was going to do. But she had roughly 3 hours to figure it out, so she had better get to it.

* * *

"_I love her, and that's the beginning and end of everything."_

― _F. Scott Fitzgerald_

There wasn't a word to describe what Adrian Ivashkov was feeling. He could call it nervous, but that was a gross understatement. What he was feeling went beyond what _nervous_ implied. Was there a word for feeling like every time you inhale you feel like your brain is going to burst out of your skull? And every time you exhale your heart careens violently against your ribcage? If there was a word for whatever that was, Sage would undoubtedly know it. Sage. Just thinking her name made him ache. God, he needed chill the hell out. But how? How could he keep himself calm when he'd just ripped himself open and laid his insides out on the floor in front of her? And she'd said, "I need to think about it." The urge to vomit seized him.

He understood why she needed to think. He understood she needed time. She wasn't an impulsive person. Not like he was. She was all about logic and reason. Adrian couldn't imagine Sydney doing anything without thinking it through. She was probably doing just that right now. Or maybe she was asleep, not particularly bothered with the thought of him, at all. Did she really need to think about it? Or was that just a polite way of saying "I'll let you down easy after I've had my beauty sleep"? He was being pessimistic. If Sage said she needed to think, then she did. She wouldn't string him along simply because she was afraid to hurt him. She was always honest with him. That was one of the first things that he knew he liked about her. She never sugarcoated things. She never coddled him. At first her unwavering bluntness had been nothing but an annoyance, and at times, a little hurtful. But the weird thing about that kind of honesty is that even when it hurts, it makes you feel better at the same time. Not at first, at first it just sucks and makes you feel like shit. But then you think about it and you're like, well damn. I guess that makes sense. And when that happens it's like this huge weight is lifted off of you that you didn't even know was there. In fact, the more Adrian thought about it, that metaphor pretty much described how Sydney made him feel, in general. Lame as it was. She made him feel like he was capable of things. It seemed so stupid, but no one had ever made him feel that way before. His whole life everyone had either treated him like he was more or less useless -not without good reason- and resigned to let him wallow in his vices, breeze through life on good looks and charm. But then here came this strange, bossy girl who pulled him up by his bootstraps and told him that wasn't how it was going to work.

And that strange, bossy girl turned out to be many other things as well. Like, fiercely intelligent. And inspiring. And loyal. And brave. And damn beautiful. Inside and out. And then Adrian couldn't stop himself from thinking about that girl. He didn't know what it was, just that he liked the way he felt when he was around her. And so then he found reasons to be around her. And the more he was around her, the more he wanted to be. He'd done all sorts of things to impress girls in the past, to get them to want him, to get them to say yes. But with Sydney, it was different. He wasn't even thinking about that. He bought that ridiculous car because he wanted to see her face light up when she saw it. That was all. She'd wrapped herself around his heart without even knowing she was doing it. Adrian sighed and rolled over in bed. He lifted his head to check the time. 6:17 AM. It wouldn't be long, now. They needed to be leaving the hotel for the airport around 8 or 9 in the morning. He should probably get out of bed and make sure he had all his shit together, literally. Or take a shower. Anything to stop himself from thinking about her.

But he couldn't. What was she doing, right now, right this very second? He imagined her in her hotel room, pacing back and forth, mapping out the pros and cons of being with him on a portable dry-erase board that she carried with her at all times, in case of any dry-erase emergencies. Or hunched over in bed, scribbling away at one of the little notepads they always had in hotel rooms, her lovely little face all scrunched up in thought, organizing a spreadsheet about it. He shifted restlessly. He'd known there was no chance in hell she'd take him up on his offer to sleep with him tonight. She probably was afraid of what he'd try to do. But he wasn't lying when he said all he wanted was to be close to her. Well, in truth, he wanted a lot more than that. He wanted to hold her, kiss her, feel her soft body pressed against his. Jesus, he really needed a shower now. A cold one. He pulled himself out of bed, stripping off his shirt and boxers and tossing them aside. He made his way to the tiny, claustrophobic nightmare of a bathroom and turned the shower on full blast. He shivered as the freezing water rained down on him, instantly regretting this rashly chosen form of therapy. Thankfully it didn't take too long for the water to heat up, and he let his head fall back, running his hands through his hair. Surprisingly, after awhile of just feeling the steady rush of water on his skin he was able to clear his mind a bit. He didn't feel quite as wound up as before. A nice, soothing calm began to envelop him. He didn't even that feel sick to his stomach as he washed his hair with the disgusting generic shampoo the hotel supplied. He was feeling relatively at peace as he stepped out of the shower, cheerfully slinging a towel around his hips. He looked at himself in the mirror and grimaced. He was looking a bit rough, eyes a bit sunken in from lack of sleep, some sparse patches of five o'clock shadow sprinkling his face. He left the bathroom to fish out a can of shaving cream and a razor from his bag, threw on a pair of pants, and returned, eager to clean himself up.

He had barely finished when he heard a knock at the door. His heart stopped, he was pretty sure. For a moment he considered answering the door as he was. Bare chested and hair still dripping wet. But he knew Sage would have a fit if he did that. And as much as he'd kill to see the look on her face, now was not the time to be teasing her. He quickly strode back into the room, slipping on a dark blue button down shirt. There was another knock. He hastily buttoned it up and grabbed for the towel he'd discarded earlier and rubbed it over his head.

He took a deep breath and walked toward the door. He paused before opening it, his anxiety rushing back to him all at once. _Jesus, Ivashkov. _He scolded himself. _Pull yourself together._

He yanked open the door the same way you would rip off a band-aid. And there she was. She looked slightly flustered by his appearance, but gave him a small smile. He wanted to kiss her, right then and there, but of course he couldn't. Instead he returned her smile and cleared his throat. "Good morning, Sage."

Her smile spread wider across her face. "Good morning, Adrian." The sound of his name on her lips did things to him. He just loved the way she said it. The way she enunciated all the syllables so deliberately. He tried to force himself not to imagine what it would be like to hear her whisper it desperately, but his imagination was persistent. He couldn't help but smirk.

She looked up at him curiously. "What's that face for?"

"Nothing." He shook his head, trying not to laugh. "Just looking at you. You look cute." It wasn't a complete lie, she did look cute. As always. She was wearing a dark maroon sweater over a collared white shirt. And khaki pants, of course. But they were slim fitting, which was a surprise, and he wasn't discreet about appreciating the way they hugged her hips and thighs.

A faint blush rose to her cheeks. "Thank you," she said softly. "You...you look very nice."

"I know," he grinned, hoping that would make her laugh. She just smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Would it be alright if I came in?" she asked. She was being kind of weird. Too formal. He swallowed. That probably wasn't a good sign.

"Yeah, of course." he said, stepping back from the door to let her inside. She walked past him almost dutifully, toting her little travel suitcase behind her. He was momentarily distracted by the fact that those slim fit khakis looked even better from behind. "So," he breathed. "You ready to talk?"

"You're not even packed." she said, her gaze stretching across the room.

She was stalling. Also not a good sign. He sighed heavily. "I'll pack as soon as we've finished talking. I barely got any sleep, Sage."

She spun around to face him. "I didn't sleep at all."

He took a few steps closer to her. "Why not?"

She looked away from him. "I had a lot on my mind."

"Do you want to sit down?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

She shook her head. "No, I'm uh..I'm fine. Unless...do you want to sit down?" Her aura was flickering. She was nervous. Dread pulled at his heart.

He shrugged. "We can stand."

"Okay. Well..." She looked down, pulling at the hem of her sweater as if to smooth it, though it didn't need to be. Her skittishness would have been cute, any other time, but today this was bad sign number three. "I was really...conflicted...about what to do. You see..." she paused, looking up at him. "I've been thinking a lot about love..." she looked away from him again. "About what it means to be in love with someone. It's always something that's sort of evaded me...you know?"

Where ever she was going with this, it didn't sound good. Adrian gave her a slow nod.

"And I always thought that love was this sort of thing where..." she paused again. His throat tightened. He felt like he was on the finale of one of those trashy reality TV shows, waiting to see if he was the one she picked or not.

"I thought that when you loved someone it meant that you wouldn't be able to live without them, you know what I mean?"

Adrian nodded again. God, this was agonizing.

"And so I thought about it. Living without you." she looked at him. "And I realized that it would hurt, it would devastate me, and I would be miserable for a long time, but I could do it. I could move on with my life. I could be okay without you."

Jesus Christ. And he thought Rose's parting words to him were harsh. He'd rather relive that moment a thousand times then have heard what Sydney just said.

He blinked at her, dumbfounded. She opened her mouth to speak again and he shook his head. "No," he said, his voice low. "I don't want to hear this."

She cocked her head to the side. "But I'm not finished."

He scoffed. "I think I get the point, Sage."

She shook her head, moving toward him. "No, I don't think you do. I don't want to be okay, Adrian." She kept moving until she was right in front of him. She brought her hands up to touch his face. "That's what I'm trying to tell you. I've spent my whole life being okay. I want to be happy. I want to be overwhelmed. I want to be fun and...and free... and maybe even a little bit crazy." she laughed slightly. "And I only feel that way when I'm with you." Those gorgeous golden eyes stared intently into his. "Who cares if I_ could _live without you? I don't want to. I don't _want _to. And that's what I think it really is...to be in love with someone. To choose them over anything else you could have, because even if it could be okay, it doesn't matter. It's not them. And I..." she took a deep breath. "I choose you."

His arms wrapped around her waist almost instinctively. His heart was thudding against his chest. His head was rushing. "Sorry...can you say that again?"

She moved her hands to encircle his neck. "I choose you." She whispered, gently knocking their foreheads together. She pulled back after a moment, a serious look on her face. "But it's not going to be easy. We're going to have to be careful. _Really_ careful. And we can't-"

He had fully intended to let her finish that thought but his mouth unfortunately had its own agenda, pressing feverishly up against hers. She made a small squeak of surprise, but she was kissing him back. He brought his hands up to cup her face, pulling her as close to him as physically possible. He still hadn't gotten used to how it felt. The softness of her lips against his. The taste of her. He didn't think he ever would. Every time her mouth came in contact with his it was electric. It was dizzying. It was the ultimate high. She sighed softly against his mouth, her sweet, warm breath mixing with his. God, it felt so good. He nipped at her bottom lip gently and to his surprise she did the same thing to his, sucking on it as she pulled away. He saw this getting very out of control very fast, and he was fine with that. He loved her. She loved him back. Nothing else in the universe mattered. He dipped his head to place soft kisses on her neck and oh, the sound she made when he did, made every nerve in his body ignite. She was pushing him away, suddenly, breathing hard.

"You have to pack." she panted.

He laughed, pulling her back. "No, I don't."

"What time is it?" she asked, still wriggling away from his frenzied kisses. She looked around and her eyes widened when they landed on the clock. "7:45!" she squeaked. "Adrian, we have to go."

He groaned. "We're fine. The flight's not until 10."

"It's recommended to get there 2 hours ahead of time." she said, managing to untangle herself from his grasp completely. She immediately went to work, scooping up his shirt and boxers from where he'd strewn them and shoving them into his overnight bag.

"Yeah it's also recommended to let your food stand in the microwave for 2 minutes after it's done cooking." Adrian scoffed. "Don't tell me you do that too."

Sydney shot him a vaguely horrified expression. "Are you telling me that _you_ don't?"

Adrian laughed, walking up behind her and squeezing her from behind. He kissed the back of her head, sighing deeply. "My anal retentive little princess."

She made a disgusted noise in her throat. "Little princess?"

He pulled back, lacing his voice with mock offense. "You don't want to be my little princess?"

"Can you help me finish packing your things, please?" she sighed and though he couldn't see her face he could almost feel her eyes rolling.

He chuckled. "Maybe my little dictator is a more fitting nickname."

* * *

They arrived at the airport with a little over an hour to spare. Sydney felt immensely accomplished for pulling this off. After she'd managed to get Adrian to actually help pack the rest of his belongings he'd held them up another 15 minutes -_15 minutes_- doing his hair. She could have killed him. But he looked so cute when he emerged from the bathroom, hair all gelled up in that ridiculous way he did it, she'd decided she could hold off on murdering him, for the time being.

"You're being quiet," Adrian said after they had successfully checked in.

"Hm?" Sydney mumbled, blinking slowly at him. "Sorry. I'm just...really tired."

She felt his hand on the small of her back, rubbing affectionately. The touch filled her entire body up with warmth, like being slowly lowered into a warm bath. She groaned. "You're making me more sleepy."

"Here," he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder and grabbing for her suitcase that she was struggling to drag behind her. It seemed in the last 5 minutes to have become twice as heavy as it was before.

"Thank you," she said, giving him a sleepy smile.

He smiled back and with his free hand, reached for hers. They were walking and holding hands. They were in a public place. Any random passerby who saw them would immediately register them as a couple. She was too tired to care about the implications of that. She was just grateful for the comfort and steadiness his hand brought her as he tugged her along.

"Would it help if we got some caffeine in your system?" Adrian asked. Sydney looked up to see they were passing by a tiny Starbucks. Her eyes lit up and she nodded animatedly. "Coffee," she whimpered.

He laughed and threw his arm around her, ushering her over to the counter. The lanky bearded boy behind the register looked tragically bored, staring off morosely into the distance.

"Can I help you?" his voice was a mumbled monotone.

"Yes," Adrian reached down and plucked a bottled water out of the open cooler underneath the counter. "Just this for me." he looked down toward Sydney. "What do you want?"

She attempted to say cappuccino but the word came out as a garbled yawn. Thankfully Adrian was able to decode Sleepy-Sydney-Speak. He turned back to the melancholy boy, smiling brightly. "And a tall cappuccino, for my girlfriend."

That snapped Sydney to attention. The boy emotionlessly gave Adrian his total and Sydney was too stunned to refuse to let Adrian pay for her. And to make matters worse, she belatedly realized in her sleep deprived state she'd forgotten to specify non-fat milk.

It wasn't until she had her unintentionally fattening drink in her hands as they were walking away she found her voice again. "What was that about?"

Adrian looked at her questioningly.

She blushed. "You called me your girlfriend."

He smiled. "Well, that's what you are."

Her blush deepened. "But what was the point of saying it right then?"

"Just wanted to make sure he knew what was what." Adrian grinned, then scowled slightly. "I don't trust boys who work at coffee places."

Sydney snorted. "That guy didn't even glance my way one time. I don't even think he noticed he was alive."

Adrian laughed loudly at that. "You're funny when you're sleepy." He nudged her as they walked. "Drink up."

She took a tentative sip of her cappuccino, which turned into a tentative gulp once she tasted how delicious it was. "Mmm."

Adrian smiled at her. "Good?"

She nodded. She told herself if she only drank half of it, then she would be fine.

When they were seated in the waiting area for their flight's gate, Sydney had already finished a good quarter of her drink.

Adrian's arm was around her suddenly, and then his lips were brushing softly against her temple. "Hey," he whispered. "I love you."

It used to shock her when he said that. Those three words that frightened and fascinated her. Now it just felt like a simple fact. The sky was blue. Water expands as it freezes. He loved her. She turned and looked at him, blinking slowly. "I know."

Adrian scoffed, raising his eyebrows at her. "Did you just Han Solo me?"

Sydney furrowed her brow in confusion. "I don't know what that means."

His eyebrows raised even further, practically touching his hairline. He shook his head. "That just won't do, Sage. First thing when we do when we get back to Palm Springs will be watching Star Wars."

She took another long sip of her drink. She felt the buzz of it now. Or maybe it was just Adrian who made her feel that way. She smiled at him. "And what about after that?"

He leaned in close to her, speaking softly. "Then I'll take you for a ride in my 1976 Ford Mustang convertible." His voice slid over the description of the car like he was saying something dirty. "We'll drive it somewhere quiet and dark, and then we'll park."

"What will we do that for?" she asked, finding it hard to concentrate on what he was saying when his eyes were so close to hers.

He closed the gap between them with a soft, quick kiss. "So we can do that," he said. "Lots of that."

Sydney's body hummed. She felt stupid-happy. She didn't know if it was the thought of a clandestine make-out session with Adrian in his amazing car, the coffee, or her lack of sleep, or a combination of all of those things, but she found herself giggling almost uncontrollably.

"If you kissed me in that car, I don't know what I'd do." she shook her head. "I think I'd lose my mind."

Adrian's smile was the picture of sin. "Precisely."

She sighed. She'd walked right into that one. She was about to give him a haughty reply when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She fished it out, grateful for the distraction. There was a text message from a number she didn't recognize. She frowned, but as she read the message her expression melted into a silly smile.

**I may or may not have weaseled a certain Rose Hathaway in2 supplying me with ur number. Hope thts ok. Are things cool w/ u and Adrian now? P.S. I put u in my contacts as BSB. Get it? ;) **

She shook her head, typing back a quick reply.

**I suppose I can allow it. Things are good. Thank you for asking. I'm a little sleep deprived right now, so sorry if I'm a bit off. But I'll put you in my contacts as Sigmund Freud.**

Christian's reply was almost immediate.

**LOL. Get some sleep! And tell Adrian I said 2 stop being a tool. (I assume hes being one because its super early and its a day ending in Y).**

Sydney giggled and Adrian turned to look at her. "What's so funny?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

He narrowed his eyes dramatically. "Who are you texting over there? Are you having an illicit affair already? We're not even Facebook Official yet."

Sydney laughed. Everything was funny. She was really tired. She was dating a vampire. She had no idea how many calories were in the beverage she was drinking. She tilted her head back and downed the rest of said beverage in stride. She looked up and smiled sweetly at her boyfriend. "Stop being a tool."

* * *

Not surprisingly, Sydney slept the entire plane ride back to Palm Springs. She was out before the plane even took off. All the coffee had done was make her jittery and slap-happy before she was finally able to pass out. When she was teetering on the edge of sleep, she had let her head fall onto Adrian's shoulder. She had pretended she was all the way asleep, but she wasn't. She braced herself for Adrian to move, or to gently push her away, but he didn't. Of course he didn't. The last thing she'd been aware of before drifting off was Adrian's warm arm around her, pulling her closer. In that moment, she felt something dangerously close to completeness.

"So how was the wedding?" Jill asked excitedly as she, Eddie, Angeline, and Adrian crowded the living room of Adrian's apartment. Eddie had picked them up from the airport in Latte, and it was strangely uncomfortable to be around her "family" again. She and Adrian could not, under any circumstances, act couple-y around them all and Sydney couldn't help but feel like she'd been woken up too soon from a really good dream. She turned to Jill, infinitely grateful they were on speaking terms again. "It was really beautiful. I wish you could have been there."

Jill sighed dreamily. "I'm so jealous. I love weddings."

"I don't," Angeline scoffed, tossing her wild hair back in a blasé manner. "They're so long and boring. It's the same thing every time."

"I think I'm with Angeline on this one," Eddie laughed and Angeline practically glowed. She slung herself across Eddie, giving him a sloppy kiss on the cheek. He made an exaggerated noise of disgust, wiping at the spot where she'd kissed and she huffed, punching him in the arm. He laughed, then wrapped his arms around her, kissing her on the side of her head. She giggled and stuck her tongue out at him.

Jill stiffened slightly beside Sydney. Sydney frowned. So that was all still going on. The confusing, convoluted love-triangle that surrounded Jill, Eddie, and Angeline. Before, she could understand how uncomfortable it must be for Jill to have to be around them constantly. Now, she briefly imagined being in her place. Having to be around Adrian and some other girl, watching silently as they flirted, spoke to each other in cutesy little voices, kissed. The thought alone felt like a knife in her chest. She looked down at Jill with a new found empathy. She wanted to give her a small smile or...something...just to let her know someone was in her corner, but she was buried in her phone, typing away, probably just so she wouldn't have to witness Eddie and Angeline's not so subtle displays of affection.

"I used to hate them," Adrian mused, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Well, apart from the ones that served free alcohol. Those were always a treat. But I've gotta say, this wedding in particular has really turned my opinion around."

Eddie shot him a dubious glance. "And why is that?"

Adrian shook his head. "You just had to be there."

Eddie looked to Sydney, raising his eyebrows. "Care to explain?"

Sydney shrugged, it took all her willpower not to crack a smile. "I don't know what he's on about. It was a pretty standard wedding, if you ask me. Lovely, but nothing out of the ordinary."

Adrian was looking down at his phone, but when he looked up he flashed her a crooked smile that turned her heart upside down.

He stood up, suddenly, looking toward Eddie. "Hey Castile, now that we're in the same place, I've been meaning to ask you about helping me out with a renovation project I want to embark on."

Eddie looked more confused than ever. "Excuse me?"

"I need more room to store my paintings. And I need someone with less pretty hands than me to do the dirty work." he smirked. "Here, come with me into the kitchen and I'll explain." He glanced toward Angeline. "You too. You look like you've got tough hands."

Angeline sprung up immediately, looking ecstatic to be included in...whatever Adrian was up to. Sydney shot him a curious look and he just winked at her. When they were all out of the room, she turned to Jill, who had a better insight on the goings on of Adrian's mind more than anyone. "What was-"

"Was it you that talked to Lissa?" Jill asked, completely taking Sydney by surprise.

"What do you mean?" Sydney was confused.

"I got a phone call from Lissa this morning." she said, smiling shyly. "She hasn't really talked to me since I got to Palm Springs...like...at all." her smiled disappeared. "I figured she just didn't really want much to do with me. But she was being so nice on the phone and she was asking me about my classes and how I'm doing and she even mentioned that once the law gets fixed that she can't wait to see me in person so we can hang out and stuff." Jill was talking really fast now. "I'm not going to get my hopes up or anything, but that would be so awesome. Anyway, she told me I could text or call her anytime if I needed to, since we're sisters and all. She actually called me her sister." Jill's smile had returned tenfold. "And she mentioned that she'd met you at the wedding, and told me to tell you hi and stuff, so I just figured...you probably said something to her..." Jill looked at Sydney expectantly.

Sydney suddenly felt exceedingly guilty. She'd been so wrapped up in her own problems, and here Jill was certain she'd been thinking of her. She _should_ have been thinking of Jill. She sighed. "I wish I could say I was that good of a pretend sister, but unfortunately, I might be the worst pretend sister ever." she gave Jill a rueful smile. "I'm sorry, Jill. I just...I had a lot going on in my mind the past two days. I did spend some time with Lissa, but, I didn't say anything to her about contacting you."

To Sydney's surprise, Jill's expression brightened. "You really didn't? You mean, she just did that without anyone telling her to?"

Ah. Now it was all making sense. Sydney nodded, smiling back at her. "It would appear so."

Jill looked deliriously happy. It was contagious. Sydney couldn't help but return her goofy smile. Good for her. And good for Lissa.

A moment later, Jill's expression faltered again. "Sydney..." she said, looking suddenly sheepish. "I'm really sorry."

Sydney was taken aback by this. "What for?"

Jill's cheeks reddened. "For acting the way I did. After, you know...you and Adrian..."

"Oh, Jill." Sydney shook her head. "You don't have anything to apologize for."

"No, I really do." Jill sighed. "I had no right to treat you that way. What happens between you and Adrian is none of my business. It's just that with the bond and everything, sometimes it's so hard to separate his feelings from mine."

"I completely understand that, Jill." Sydney put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "No one blames you for that, least of all me. I felt awful knowing how upset you were with me. I was sick over it. But not for one second did I ever blame you. Okay?"

Jill's eyes were glassy. "I still feel like an idiot about the whole thing. And all that time we weren't talking, I missed you so much." The catch in her voice broke Sydney's heart. She puled Jill into a tight embrace.

"I missed you, too." she patted her on the back reassuringly. "Really, Jill. It's okay."

"I guess on the bright side it made me realize I needed to be trying harder to block Adrian out, get more control over the bond. you know?" Jill pulled back, her eyes wide with enthusiasm "And I've been doing a lot better."

Sydney was impressed. "That's great!" she said, smiling. "I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks," Jill said. "I barely felt anything at all while you guys were gone. I caught a few things here and there, but I didn't get fully pulled into his head at all. Well..." she paused, biting her lip. "I think I saw...you two arguing...about something. But as soon as I realized that was what was happening I pulled myself out right away." she sighed. "When his emotions are strong is when it's the hardest."

Sydney nodded. "I know it's hard. But you've made really amazing progress. You should be proud of yourself."

"Yeah, I guess so." Jill shrugged. "After I pulled myself out that time, though, it was kind of weird. It was dead silence for such a long time. I was actually starting to worry a little bit." she blushed. "I didn't feel anything at all from him until a few hours ago. It was like, really overwhelming. He was so happy. I've never felt anything like it before. So I'm guessing you guys made up," she smiled, then quickly added, "I mean, not that I need to know about that. Like I said, it's none of my business."

The way Jill was dead set on acting like a little lady about this tugged at her heart almost painfully.

"As mature as it is for you to take that stance, I'm about to make it your business." Sydney smiled at her conspiratorially. "Think you can handle it?"

Jill's eyes widened. "Yes, of course."

"I know you're going to find out through the bond eventually, but I'd rather you hear it from me." She took a deep breath, not really sure how to put what she was trying to say into words. "Adrian and I have...decided...to be together."

Jill blinked at her. "You mean like...?"

"Yes," Sydney nodded. "I know it may be confusing for you-"

"Confusing?" Jill scoffed. "This is the best thing that's ever happened!" She grabbed Sydney's hands in hers, bouncing slightly. "No wonder he was so happy. Did you guys..." Jill's eyes flashed with mischief and she dropped her voice to a whisper, "you know..._do it_?"

"Jill!" Sydney practically choked. "No! Of course not! Why on Earth would you think that?"

"Oh. " Jill's face fell, as if she were disappointed. "Well, I just thought, since the emotions were so strong...and he thinks about it often enough...anyway," she shrugged it off, as if they were having a casual chat about the weather. "What did happen?"

"I don't think that's something appropriate for us to discuss," Sydney sputtered, still reeling from Jill's assumption. "What Adrian thinks of me, I mean. Those thoughts are meant to be private." she paused for a long moment, biting her lip. "How often, exactly?"

"Like, all the time." Jill groaned. "Back when I could hardly ever tune him out, it was awful. Do you know how hard it is to try to take an English test when all I can think about is how badly I want to kiss you? Or what you'd look like in skimpy lingerie? Or-"

"Okay!" Sydney said, clapping her hands together. "Definitely not appropriate for us to discuss."

"Sorry," Jill's face flushed. She cleared her throat. "So, what are you guys going to do now? Are you going to leave the Alchemists? What about when Lissa gets the law sorted out? Are you going to come back to Court with us? That would be amazing! What's Adrian going to do? Does his family know?"

Jill's rapid-fire questioning brought up a bad taste in Sydney's mouth. They were all good questions, questions Sydney had no idea how to answer. She sighed, the fairytale feeling she'd been floating around in all morning was long gone now. "I don't really know what we're going to do." she said softly, "For now, we're just...sort of still feeling everything out. We're not going to tell anyone. I really hate you drag you into it, but we're both trusting you not to say anything."

"I would never," Jill shook her head fiercely. "And you're not dragging me into it, don't feel bad." She touched Sydney's arm, smiling reassuringly. "Even if you didn't tell me, like you said, I'd find out eventually through the bond. It's good that I know what's going on from the start, that way I can keep practicing on staying out of his head as much as possible, you know, to give you guys your privacy."

"You're being really great about this," Sydney said, looking toward the young girl in front of her with pride and admiration. "I know it hasn't been easy for you, everything that's happened recently, and I just...really appreciate you doing this for us." she smiled. "For me."

Jill smiled back. "Well, that's what sisters are for, right? They have each other's backs." she shrugged. "It's the least I could do, anyway, after all you've done for me. And after I was such a jerk to you."

Sydney pulled her arm around her, giving her a light squeeze. "Please try to forget about that. No one's mad at you. And you don't owe me anything." she sighed. "Although, now that you mention it..."

Jill perked up. "What?"

"It's just that, Adrian and I haven't really gotten to talk about...what we're going to do. Among other things. Everything happened kind of suddenly and, I slept through the flight home. Some privacy would be good right about now."

"Oh," Jill frowned. "I wish I would have known that before we came to get you, I could have worked something out."

"No, no, it's fine." Sydney said. "I wanted to spend some time with you guys. We both did."

Jill smiled, then nodded diligently. "So we need an excuse to get us all out of the apartment, and for you to stay?" she pursed her lips in thought. "Okay," she said. "I think I've got something. Just play along."

Sydney raised an eyebrow at Jill, who was taking a deep breath and rolling her shoulders back, as if she were preparing herself for something. She stood up abruptly and shouted, "I told I didn't want to talk about this, Sydney!"

Sydney's eyes widened in confusion momentarily, before she realized what was going on. She stood up and walked over to Jill, also speaking loudly. "Jill, please, just listen to me-"

"No!" Jill shouted, jerking away from her. "Just leave me alone!"

Eddie was there in seconds, looking between the two girls with concern and confusion. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Eddie." Sydney smiled at him. "I can handle it. Jill and I were just having a minor disagreement."

Jill scoffed. "Whatever, Sydney." she looked to Eddie, her eyes pleading. "I want to go now, please."

Angeline and Adrian appeared behind Eddie. Angeline looked delighted. Adrian's expression mirrored Eddie's. "Jailbait," he said gently. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Jill said, crossing her arms. "I just want to go. And I _don't_ want to be around Sydney."

Sydney did her best to look crestfallen. "Jill..." she made her voice pained.

Eddie was annoyed now. "This is ridiculous, you guys were fine just a few minutes ago. And we can't exactly leave without Sydney, Jill. It's her car."

"Fine." Jill said in a clipped tone, "Then I'll just walk home." she turned on her heels and stomped out the door, slamming it behind her.

"Please go after her, Eddie." Sydney sighed. "Just take her back to Amberwood in Latte. It's okay."

Eddie shook his head, still confused, but Sydney could tell the urge to go after Jill was overwhelming him. "I'm sorry, Sydney. I don't know what's up with her lately. But whatever it is, you two really need to work it out." He grabbed Angeline's hand and made for the door. "I'll come back and pick you up?"

"I can take Sydney back in my car." Adrian said immediately, still frowning. "Just go. Don't let Jill her wander off by herself, for God's sake."

Eddie was out the door a second later. Sydney sighed in relief. She turned to Adrian, giving him a small smile.

"What the hell was that?" Adrian asked, "I got Eddie and Angeline out of the room because Jill asked me to. I didn't know it was so you two could have a catfight."

Sydney's smile widened and she walked toward Adrian, placing her hands on his shoulders. "_That_ was Jill's best impression of a bratty teenager throwing a fit. I guess it was convincing?"

Adrian raised his eyebrows. "Wait, so that...what?"

Sydney shrugged. "I just told her to come up with an excuse to get everyone out that would require me staying behind. She chose the drama."

Adrian shook his head, chuckling. "I can't believe it. You're terrible, the both of you."

"Well, we learn from the best." Sydney smirked, reaching up to kiss him softly. He deepened the kiss immediately, his hands wrapping tightly around her waist.

Sydney forced herself to pull back. "We need to talk."

"About what?" Adrian murmured, his lips now against her jaw, trailing kisses toward her ear. Her eyelids fluttered. She pushed him away, she needed to stay focused.

"None of that now," she chastised. "We need to talk about...what we're going to do."

"Watch Star Wars?" he suggested, grinning. "Make-out? Both? I pick both. Problem solved."

Sydney rolled her eyes, trying not to smile. "I mean, what we're going to do, in general. You know, as in.." she gestured between them. "This. Us."

He sat down on the couch, pulling her with him. "I thought we already talked about that."

"Not really," Sydney sighed, leaning into his embrace when his arms wrapped around her. "How exactly are we going to go about spending time together without anyone finding out? We can't expect Jill to give an Oscar-worthy performance every time we need a diversion. And...what are we going to do when the law change goes through?" she asked quietly. "You'll have to leave. I'll have to go back home. What will we do, then?"

Adrian's arms pulled her closer. His mouth was right up against her ear, his breath warm on her skin when he spoke. "Don't worry about the long run stuff," he whispered. "I told you, we'll just take it one day at a time. Let's just enjoy each other as much as we can. Be happy. Be together."

"I can't not worry," Sydney mumbled.

"I know," he said. "But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Together." He kissed the side of her face. "As for the right now stuff, I have a few ideas of reasons for us to spend long periods of time together, but they're still in the brainstorming stages." he chuckled. "I guess you'll just have to trust me."

Sydney turned her body so she was facing him. "I do trust you." She looked into his eyes, sighing. "I'm just..."

He brought his hands up to her face. "Are you scared?"

Sydney nodded slowly. "I'm terrified."

He leaned into her, bringing their faces close. "Me too." His fingers traced the lily on her cheek, stroking it tenderly. "But you know, I've been thinking a lot about love too. What it really means. And I think...it wouldn't be scary if it wasn't real, you know? And this..." he whispered, his lips barely a centimeter away from hers now. "This is real."

"I don't like lying to everyone," Sydney whispered, her heart hammering against her chest.

"I know." Adrian whispered back.

"It's just going to get harder from now on." She warned.

"I know," he said again.

"We both might end up losing a lot." she exhaled a shaky breath. "Or everything."

His forehead touched hers. "I know."

She looked into his eyes, and he looked into hers, and they were looking not at each other, but into each other. Everything inside of her was inside of him as well. Everything she ever wanted, everything she feared, it was all there. And she didn't feel okay. She felt overwhelmed. She felt wild. She felt hope. She felt a little bit insane.

"I love you," she said.

He closed his eyes. He smiled. "I know."

And then she closed her eyes as well, because she didn't need to see him to know he was there. And when the distance finally closed between them she wasn't sure which one of them had done it. Where she ended and he began was was no longer clear. She knew she was taking a risk, a completely uncalculated one at that, and she had no idea what the future had in store for them. But sitting there, wrapped up in Adrian's arms, his lips moving exquisitely against hers, she simply just didn't care.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who read and/or reviewed this story, to the people who fangirled on tumblr, you're all amazing and awesome and !**

** If you have any suggestions on what I should do next, I would love to hear it. I've been thinking about perhaps *maybe* expanding upon this story, not really a sequel, just a story set in the future that is sort of built on this foundation, if that makes sense. Or possibly just going in the complete opposite direction and writing a really off the wall AU based sydrian story. I've really been itching to do that. AUs give me life. I don't know, though. Everything's going to change when TIS comes out so maybe I'll see where their relationship has landed at the end of that book and go from there. Thanks again to all my readers and reviewers, you've been the absolute best! And I hope you enjoyed the final installment of the story! It was hard for me to end. **


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